


Theory and Practice

by holliswrites, HowDidIGetUpHere



Category: Captain America, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Domestic Avengers, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, M/M, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-13 00:18:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 29,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holliswrites/pseuds/holliswrites, https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowDidIGetUpHere/pseuds/HowDidIGetUpHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tony decides to leave Steve for his own good someone from his past returns to pick up the pieces. At least that's what Tony is choosing to believe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd, revised and knighted by Holliswrites :)

Flowers….Christ, when was the last time anyone brought him actual flowers? Never, as far as Tony could remember. But here stood Steve Rogers in his best suit and his Hollywood smile, clutching the flowers, which made Tony’s next statement all the more horrible.

“I think we might need a break….you and me.”

Those words came out of Tony’s mouth and left Steve’s face blank and cold. His eyes went unfocused and lowered to the ground for a split second before coming back up to meet Tony’s gaze. Tony could see it in Steve’s face–the soldier understood. They both did. The past few weeks, all they'd done was fight--not just as Captain America and Iron Man, but as Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Bickering and arguing, chipping away at each other, little by little every day, and the alienation had just grown. Tony knew so much of it had to do with himself, perhaps trying not so subtly to destroy this amazing thing that had defined the last eight months of his life. He wished Steve's heart of gold could fix him but it couldn't, and Tony couldn't lose Steve, he just couldn't, and he couldn’t let Steve destroy himself trying to fix Tony. 

The only way to make sure Steve didn't end up realizing what a mess Tony was and that Steve didn't need him or the hassle, was to get as far away as possible before it was too late, and maybe someday when Tony wasn't so fucked up, so worthless, he could come back. He'd convinced himself a thousand times over that this was best, but it still didn't make it easier.

"I'm so sorry,” were the only pathetic words Tony could manage before leaving his boyfriend standing alone in their apartment with fresh flowers in one hand and a freshly broken heart in both.Were the only pathetic words Tony could manage before leaving his boyfriend standing alone in their apartment with flowers in one hand and a freshly brokeheart.

Lying on the bed of his newly acquired apartment, Tony stared into the air like he'd been doing for the past half a week. Most of The Avengers had stopped by, asking how he was, if he needed anything, and so forth, but he hadn't really been listening. He tried to occupy his mind with everything and anything to stop himself from thinking of the soldier he'd left behind, tried not to think of when Clint said Steve was acting like the walking dead and spending most of his time in the gym or asleep in their his apartment except when he, to everyone's shock, suddenly punched through one of the Helicarrier walls. 

But that was the only admission about Steve the team gave him. No one brought him up again, and Tony never could bring himself to ask, despite it being the only thing he really wanted to know about. Tony tormented himself with unasked and unanswered questions--wanted to know if Steve was alright, if he'd moved on, or if he was still wondering what he had done to drive Tony away. He wondered if Steve felt alone, like everything in him was trickling out like Tony found himself feeling all too often now.  
But he didn’t ask, because if he found out that Steve was better off now, it would possibly destroy Tony.

Things went on that way for a little over two months; fortunately, nothing important or earth-shattering came up with The Avengers that required both Iron Man and Captain America at the same time. During this time, Tony had passed Steve once in a Helicarrier corridor, both of them in full armor. Steve stared straight ahead, militant and focused. Tony was thankful for Iron Man's poker face as he continued, not breaking stride for several more yards. Only after Tony had cleared the corridor did he pause and allow himself to feel the agony. 

He went through the motions—went through the days, building things, updating the suit, attending meetings, and working in his office rather than home. But there were other days where he was forced to be alone with himself. Those were the longest days.

This was one such day, a day when there were few tasks demanding Tony’s attention, a day when he was exiled to his own, too-silent apartment. 

Tony rubbed his face and let out a long breath when a knock on the front door echoed through the rooms. He stayed put on the couch, hoping whoever it was would give up and leave, but they didn't. The knocking persisted. So he pulled himself up to open the door—but when Tony saw who was standing in front of him, he felt the color drain from his face.

"Hello, Tony."

"Ty." Tony manages to croak out the name that he will never forget.

There was Tiberius Stone standing in front of him like he had done so many times before, dressed in a perfectly-tailored suit, letting light blonde locks fall into his clear blue eyes. A well-trimmed goatee framed an apologetic, hesitant smile. He stood broad-shouldered and about six inches taller than Tony, the same as he had in Tony’s memory from 15 years ago, when Ty had walked out and left Tony behind.

So many memories, both good and ill. Tony struggled to put some strength into his voice. "What are you doing here?"

Ty held up appeasing hands. "Relax Ton, I moved from LA about a month ago. My company wants me more in touch with my duties here and I was getting sick of the conference calls, anyway. My East Coast headquarters aren’t far from here, and I saw you walking in on my way to work yesterday. May I come in?"

Tony watched him for a few seconds—for what, he didn’t know. It's not like Ty would pull anything right in the doorway; he wasn't stupid, and he never had been. He was very meticulous, even back in college, when they had been together. Tony would say the wrong thing or talk to the wrong person and he wouldn't even know he'd done anything wrong until they were both alone--safely away from anyone that might see, anyone that might help or intervene or object. The worst that had happened, as far as Tony could recall, were a few bruises and a broken wrist. But the psychological bondage had run deep.

Eventually Tony nodded and stepped aside, letting the blonde into his home and gesturing for him to make himself comfortable. Ty headed for the couch, and Tony joined him. There, both men shifted awkwardly before Ty finally spoke up and began to weave his web.

He asked Tony how he was and mentioned that he was sorry about his and Steve's sudden break–up. That their relationship hadn't been exactly private to the one of the country's top media outlets, let alone its CEO, wasn’t a surprise to Tony, but he still found himself cringing from the reminder of Steve’s absence.

After he disposed of the courteous pleasantries, Ty started going on about a new engineering design he wanted to start. That was all it took—the distraction that Tony needed to pull him away from his fractured spirit. The two of them talked for hours about designs, which segued into reminiscing about college and all the things they've missed since the last time they spoke. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony was starting to allow himself believe that Ty had really changed, that that he wasn't the one who had walked out on him years ago-- when Tony realized how close they were sitting to each other. Ty leaned in a little closer, his hand on Tony's thigh.

"I'm sorry, Anthony. For everything."

"See, that's not really gonna work for me…you'll have to try a little harder." Despite his enduring unhappiness, Tony allowed himself to give into the flirtation of the moment, and smirked at Ty. 

"How about a drink then?"

"You have such a way with words, Stone. You really know how to seduce a guy-“ Ty pressed his lips against Tony’s, cutting off his words and stifling his signature devil’s smile. He kissed Tony several times, offering an occasional “I’m sorry,” and “I still love you” in between the moments where he touched his lips to Tony’s mouth, jawline, and neck.

Tony wrapped his arms around Ty's shoulders and closed his eyes as the blonde began unfastening Tony's belt and jeans. It was good, very good—better than things had felt in a long time. Better than it had ever being with Ty before. Tony allowed himself a moment of feeling cherished and worth something more than the current wreck he was currently.

It eventually ended as Ty kissed and sucked the side of Tony's neck as he thrust while one hand stroked him, making the brunette climax with a heavy gasp.  
When the gray light of the November morning leaked into the bedroom, Tony awoke to find he was in bed alone. Walking around the apartment, he found Ty sitting at his desk with a cup of coffee. Ty smiled and softly walked up to Tony, cupping the smaller man's face in his hands before kissing him gently.

After Ty finished the kiss, he asked, voice soft, "Tony, where did you learn how to do those things?"

Tony smirked and took it as a compliment--until Ty's hands tightened around his jaw.

"Where did you learn those things, Tony." Ty’s voice hardened and his eyes turned dark. 

"Who’d you let fuck you like that?!"

"What the hell, Tiberius!" Tony wasn’t yet awake enough to follow this shift in the mood, but a long-buried instinct had begun to sound an alarm. Still, Ty had changed—hadn’t he? Hadn’t they both changed?

"I didn't want to think that you'd still be sleeping with everyone and their dog, Tony!"  
Before Tony could formulate a response, Ty's fingers locked in his dark hair as he smashed the ceramic coffee mug against Tony’s face. Ty pushed Tony several feet backwards before grabbing his suit jacket along with Tony's keys that were lying on the counter, and slamming the front door behind him. 

He left Tony Stark alone in the apartment, sliding down the wall with blood running down his face. Tony’s breath began to slow as the adrenaline in his body receded and the blood spilled from his nose and lip onto his shirt. The billionaire sat on the floor, staring at the drops of dark red mixed with cold coffee and shattered ceramic at his feet, trying to ignore the burning sting on the left side of his face, recalling the icy blue eyes that were nothing like Steve's.

And then he allowed himself to accept the knowledge that had been lurking in him since the day he had walked away from Steve and his love. "You deserve this, Tony. You know you deserve this." 

His voice came out as nothing louder than a whisper, but it was simply an echo of the screaming in his head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A party, a shower and Ty starts showing his true colors (again).

After such an unexpectedly rough morning, Tony decided to take a shower and make a couple calls to the company, and then ultimately decided to stay home and make it a three-day weekend. Or at least that was what he planned--until Pepper called.

"Tony Stark is not here at the moment, please-"

"Tony." She sounded entirely unamused.

"Hey Pep." Tony forces himself to keep his tone light.

"I need your RSVP for tonight."

"Tonight…?"

"The Maria Stark Foundation Auction. It's been on your calendar for months."

"Oh….yeah….The …uh- that." He held the phone away from his ear. “JARVIS, is there an event on for tonight?”

“There is, sir, for you and plus one.”

Plus one. Months ago, when the event was first planned, he and Steve had still been together. He swallowed back the unexpected pain and forced himself to ignore the hollow feeling in his gut. “Wow, I really do need you to manage my social life, Pep.” 

"Just wear something nice and show up."

"You got it." That much, he could do.  
_

Several hours had passed by the time Ty let himself back into the apartment, loudly jangling Tony’s keys as he did so. Tossing them onto the counter, he simply said, “I had a set cut.” He set the laptop bag he had been carrying onto the counter next to Tony’s keys. 

“I thought maybe I could stay here with you.”

Tony didn’t answer, simply watched Ty as he came closer. Tony held his body tightly coiled, prepared to move quickly if he needed to, but he should have known better than that. Ty reached out and gently stroked Tony’s face, where there was a small cut and some faint bruising. “I shouldn’t have done that, Tony. I just hated the thought of you being with someone else, anyone else.”

Tony closed his eyes and willed himself away from Ty’s touch, but his body wouldn’t obey. With his eyes closed, he could pretend just about anything about the man before him. He allowed Ty to stroke his face and kiss him lightly for a few moments before he pulled away and headed to the bedroom.

Ty followed and watched as Tony pulled a dress shirt from the closet and changed into it. Then he came up behind Tony and slid his hands underneath Tony’s shirt and around his waist. Nuzzling into Tony’s ear, he asked softly, “Where are you going?

"Charity event party. You know, the usual."

“Sounds tedious. Why don’t I go with you? I can keep everyone from trying to take advantage of your single status.”

It was the right choice of words, Tony knew. He had no desire to be reminded of how alone he was, and what worse way than to show up in front of the public and press, unattached? Ty could be his plus-one.

Ty knew he had won. “I’ll have my people bring over a suit.”

When they arrived at the gala, Tony’s face betrayed none of the anxiety he felt. The paparazzi instantaneously set on them and hounded them all the way to the entrance, but once they were inside, things settled down a little. Ty put a comforting yet proprietorial hand on the small of Tony's back as the two entrepreneurs mastered their way through the upper-class crowd. 

Then Tony saw them—saw him. Across the ballroom, Steve Rogers stood with Bruce, Clint, and Natasha. Steve looked every bit as perfect as he remembered, and Tony allowed himself the exquisitely painful luxury of taking in the view. But by the time he realized he was staring it was too late. Steve had spotted him, straightened up, and was walking over. Tony involuntarily opened his stance, and Ty, sensing this, tightened his grip around Tony's waist, pulling him closer.

"Hi, Tony." Steve’s warm and generous smile was almost blinding.

"Hey, Steve." God, this wasn't going to go well.

Steve's smile faded the smallest bit when he spotted Ty's hand on Tony's side. Ty smirked and extended a hand. "Tiberius Stone. Pleasure."

"Capt. Steve Rogers, the pleasure is all mine, Sir." Steve’s innate courtesy never failed him.

Tony felt the absurd need to explain. "Ty's moved to the city, and he’s staying with me-"

"A little more than just staying." Ty cut in, pressing his lips against Tony's temple, eyeing Steve as he spoke. 

“Tony really knows how to make a man feel welcome.”

Tony had never seen that look on Steve's face before--in fact he didn't even think Captain America possessed the ability to be jealous until now. But then, the look only lasted for 1/100th of a millisecond, so perhaps he had imagined it.  
Steve’s smile was friendly and open. "Well, then I suppose I should ask permission for this dance- as friends, of course. May I?"

"Sure, why not?" Tony snarked, not giving Ty a chance to respond. Tony could actually think of at least two hundred reasons why not, but when had he ever been one for self-preservation? He allowed Steve to take his arm, and they walked out onto the ballroom floor, Tony feeling Tiberius' eyes drilling into his back the whole way.

Steve wasn't the best dancer, so as always, Tony had to take the lead (which he found infinitely adorable) as they moved with each other- into each other; they also found themselves with no respectable space between them.

"How've you been, Tony?"

"Dandy, Cap. Yourself?"

"Good, thanks."

Steve looked back to the bar where Ty was effortlessly mingling while glancing all too often at the two of them. "So who is that guy?"

"Ty, um-Ty Stone. We…we used to date in college and we have a lot in common. Kind of nice not having to explain every last thing to him." Tony added that last part with a heavy dose of sarcasm, making Steve laugh in spite of himself. But there was something unsettled in Steve’s demeanor, nonetheless.

"He just seems….I don't know, he just rubs me wrong, I think."

Tony stared up at Steve, and then glanced at Ty across the room. It took every cell in his body not to tell Steve everything that had happened- not just from this morning, but even from when he and Ty dated before. He wanted to tell Steve about the heady first days of their relationship, the thrill of two bright people discovering each other, he wanted to confess the things he had done with Ty, and the way that their love had twisted and turned on each other, poisoning everything until Ty left Tony devastated and broken in a myriad of ways.

But Tony didn’t want to just tell Steve about this. He wanted to wrap his arms around the blonde soldier, and feel the way Steve's muscles coiled and relaxed around him, giving him warmth and acceptance. He wanted to this, and so much more, but he couldn't drag Steve into his self-loathing drama variety hour. Not anymore.

Then he realized he hadn’t said anything since Steve had expressed his unease about Ty. Steve realized it, too.

"Oh God, Tony I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way I just….does he make you happy?" His blue eyes, so clear and honest, searched deep into Tony’s, demanding the truth.

But the truth would not set Steve free; it would bind him to Tony, and Tony would not do that to him. So Tony blinked and stayed silent for no more than a second before feeding Steve the line he needed to hear. "Yeah." The lie came out as seamlessly as any lie he had ever uttered.

Steve let out a breath as the song ended. They both stood there for a lingering minute before Steve smiled so genuinely it hurt Tony to see it. Then he glanced over Tony’s shoulder. 

"I better get back over there before he starts wondering what's keeping me." Steve smiled turned wistful as he gave Tony’s hand a squeeze and turned away.

"Wait–‘he’?" Too late, Steve’s words had registered in Tony’s preoccupied brain, but by the time Tony thought to ask Steve what he had meant, he was already walking away, weaving his way through the crowd.

As Tony got closer to Ty and further from Steve he silently begged for some crazy-ass super-villain to crash the party before he got back to the bar but no such luck was on Tony's side. Ty put a hand on Tony's back, bringing him very close, as if to kiss him. His fingers dug painfully into Tony's suit jacket making him clench his jaw to avoid crying out and making a scene. Ty brought his lips very close to Tony's before saying he thought it was time to leave.

The ride home was quiet, not a single word uttered between the two of them, and Tony knew better than to stop bracing himself for what he knew was coming. The elevator ride was quiet; the walk down the hallway was quiet. Their entrance into the apartment and shutting themselves away from the world outside was quiet.   
Too quiet.  
-

Without so much as a look at Tony, Ty grabbed his laptop bag and sat on the couch. Afraid to break the silence or call Ty’s attention to himself, Tony beelined for the shower. 

The hot water ran over every bit of his body, loosening his muscles and clearing his mind if only for a minute as the Arc Reactor reflected off the glossy tiles around him. Tony was rubbing his eyes when a blunt force slammed the side of his head and face into the shower wall.

Tony cried out as he reached for his throbbing temple, but Ty's hand grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the wall, the bigger man's other hand gripping Tony's chin and forcing Tony to face him. Tony stood bare, exposed, and unprotected, unable to form words, just breathing heavily as he tried to release the sudden, fear-induced adrenaline.

"I certainly hope you enjoyed yourself tonight Tony. I really do. Know why? Because no one wants a whore after they've fucked 'em. You really think Steve's ever coming back for your shit? "Ty started laughing at the thought before sucking in a breath and continuing.

"He's a lot smarter than that, don't you think? There is no knight on a white stallion for someone like you. You do understand that, don't you?"

Tony opened his mouth to start fighting back when a solid fist hit him in the abdomen. The pain in his stomach was overwhelming as the acid rose into his throat and he vomited onto the shower floor.

"There is no silver lining for you, Tony, not after everything you've done."

Ty grabbed Tony's hair-wrenching some of it out in the process- and threw him to the floor of the shower before removing his clothes until all that was left was the dress shirt. Tony knew what was coming next--Ty proceeded to hold him down and penetrate him. Tony hadn't been ready or willing, of course, so he started bleeding almost instantly. The pain was excruciating as his abdomen still burned, his head pounded as blood spilled from his ear and nose- his eye and lip were swelling and most likely turning purple. 

The drain was clogged by this point, leaving the shower filled with blood, semen, vomit and water that long since turned cold. Tony's screams and pleas went unacknowledged as Ty finally finished. After he emptied himself into Tony with a last final thrust, he pulled out and knelt by Tony's side. And his next words hurt more than anything else he had done.

"I'm the best you're ever getting," he crooned in a sweet voice before kissing Tony's forehead.

He then left, undoubtedly to clean himself up elsewhere, leaving the notorious Tony Stark crumpled on the bathroom floor—soaking wet, shaking, bleeding, sobbing, and alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony was eventually able to pick himself up off the floor, although he still had to brace himself against the wall. Once out of the shower, he stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long time, taking in the mess that he was. His right eye was a throbbing dark purple, his lower lip had also split a little on the right side, and the blood from his nose was mostly dried now. After cleaning himself up very carefully, all that remained was his black eye, a small cut on his lip and several bruises all over his body—at least the latter was nothing a long sleeve shirt and pants couldn't fix. He pulled on a clean pair of boxers and a fresh white t-shirt and slowly stepped out into the master bedroom. Ty was nowhere to be seen, and Tony heard no sounds that suggested he was close- Tony never wished he had JARVIS as much as he did right now. He crawled beneath the comforter and sunk into such an exhausted, troubled state it couldn't even be called sleep.

After waking up, Tony remained in bed for a good hour before getting up and finding Ty watching the news on the couch where he'd obviously slept. Ty noticed Tony immediately and stood up; the brunette considered trying to bolt to from the apartment, but three doctorates in engineering would slap him in the face if he honestly thought he could make it before Ty clotheslined him.

"Tony, I-"

"Don't."

"I'm so sorry, Tony, I just got jealous last night."

"Fuck off, Tiberius."

"I deserve that."

The blonde took Tony's face in his hands and kissed his cheek before pulling him into an embrace. Tony whole body tensed and Ty eased him onto the couch where he kept his arms around him and curled his toned body around the smaller man’s. Ty continued. "I'm so sorry, Tony. You know how much I love you, even after all this time when I think about how much I need you I can't even control it when I think of you leaving. And I don’t want to leave you, not like everyone else did."

Ty gently ran his fingers through Tony's hair, planting kisses on the top of his head every so often. Tony absentmindedly drummed his fingers against the arc reactor as he listened to Ty speak softly about possible modifications on the Iron Man suit, and he allowed himself to be lulled into the peace and comfort of the moment. When Ty was like this he made Tony want to think it was worth it, worth staying with him. Ty’s good was so great but his bad was unbearable--as evidenced by the purple and yellow welts on Tony’s body and the nauseating, burning sensation that still lingered.

But at the end of it all, Tiberius was right- Pepper had left, Rumiko, Veronica, Marianne, and so, so many others- hell, his own father never even smiled at him, and even Steve had given up too, allowed Tony to drive him away- no one would stay for him, nor should they. Tiberius Stone was the only one who gave Tony a second chance, the only one to come back. The only one who would stay.

It was well into the afternoon when Tony's phone rang; Fury demanded his presence on the Helicarrier immediately. Tiberius kissed him and came up with several reasons for him to stay (all very tempting) but Avengers business always came first.

"Stark!" Tony had barely gotten through the door before Fury started hounding him.

"I know, I know, I should've been here, like, yesterday."

"Just sit down."

"I'm the only late one, where are the others?" He Tony asked taking as he took a seat.

"There are no others on this one, it's a very classified sting and I only need two. Usually I'd send Barton and Romanov, but both are otherwise occupied so this mission is yoursgoes to you and Rogers'."

The two men nodded and glanced at eachother—Tony looked away first, but was very much aware of Steve’s eyes studying him. Tony ignored him and reviewed the files given to the; it wasm, nothing extravagant- just a drug ring overseen by the Mob but probably run by Kingpin. Easy work for two of the highest profile super-heroes of all time-- (, well according to Tony Stark and People Magazine anyway.s.)

So easy, in fact, that neither of them even showed up to the warehouse in full gear., Cap was wearing his uniform but hadn’t bothered to pull up his cowl,the cowl was down and his shield was strapped to his back rather than his arm, and Tony could access Extremis should the need arise. The two of them climbed into the catwalk that ran around the parameter of the inside of the warehouse- dark, hidden and good view- the best place to be, according to Clint, and who were they to argue? They settled in behind some crates after planting the bugs that allowed effortless entry into any and all conversations below.

Tony had never had a hard time being near Steve, save for those first few encounters but now looking at the man made his whole body ache as he recalled how badly their last meeting ended for him. If Ty found out he was alone with Steve he might not make it out so unscathed this time Tony might not emerge as unhurt this time.

The silence is broken by Steve, "What happened to your eye?" Steve's jaw set tight as he stared below, not looking at Tony.

"Training,” Tony said off-handedly, “I got a little too into it." _Liar.Liar._

But Steve seemed to accept the lie. "Oh, that's a hell of shiner."  
"Yeah, I've seen worse on you." Tony grinned.

Steve smiled and ducked his head before looking over at Tony, allowing his gaze stayed on Tony to linger for a long time.

"What?" Tony shifted a bit.

"Nothing, I just miss you."

"I uh…I miss you too, Steve. A lot, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Don't. Do not do this Tony. Don't drag him down with you. To keep himself on an even footing, Tony resorted to the subject that he knew would change the course of this conversation, "Ty was pretty stoked to meet you too; talked about it the whole night."

"Oh? ….. Yeah, but he seems more focused on you. She seems protective of you."  
That was the understatement of the millennia.

"He's something else." Tony couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous words coming out his own mouth. He was making a mockery of himself right now, but Steve took the words at face value, choosing to read fondness in them, and not twisted, bitter sarcasm. 

"You know, after you left” Steve said slowly, “….I had a hard time. But everything, it was all worth it if you can look me in the eyes and tell me you're happy right now."

Tony stayed silent as he stared into those deep ocean blue eyes, so far and so different from Ty's icy ones.

"Of course I'm happy, Steve. Happier than I've been in a while." Tony smiled the smile it took had taken him 40 years of loneliness to perfect, and because Steve was, at heart, a simple and truthful man, he believed Tony.

The mission went on, and things were quiet, easy. Until one of the moronic thugs found one of the bugs on the inside of a crate, then they started storming the whole damned place. Steve was fighting a few of them off when another flipped Tony over the railing, sending him crashing onto the concrete floor below.

"Tony!" Steve pushed off the guys trying to hold him and jumped over the railing, landing beside Tony. 

Strapping his shield to his arm, Steve lifted Tony up and ran for the exit as he pulled his gun out and shot behind them to keep the thugs at a distance. Once they exited the building, Steve secured Tony onto his motorcycle and sped towards Avengers Tower.


	4. Chapter 4

Entering Steve’s apartment at the Avengers Tower, Tony was welcomed with the painfully familiar scent of fresh, air-dried cotton, a warm musk, and the slightest whiff of leather. It was the concentration of what he could smell on Steve when he was just close enough, like when he used to wake up tucked under the soldier’s chin and encased in his arms. Tony felt a certain sadness wash over him as he tried not to remember how long it'd been since he felt that safe.

"James is out on mission tonight, too." Steve mused offhandedly as he closed the door without a sound.

"James? Did you get a dog or something?"

Steve raised an eyebrow before a light went off in his head. "Oh, I was talking about Bucky- sorry, sometimes I call him James."

Tony’s tongue felt thick and dry, and an acidic taste of disappointment and bile built in his throat.

"Are…are you uh…are you and Bucky together?" Dammit, Stark, use your words.

"Yeah, we've been going steady for a few weeks now."

"Then at the Charity Auction…." Tony recalled Steve walking away to find a certain "he".

Steve grinned. "Don't worry, a jealous assassin isn't gonna smoke you in your sleep. I got his permission to dance with you first." 

Despite his disappointment, Tony couldn't say he was surprised; Bucky was probably the only person on Earth that knew how Steve felt about being hurled into a new century with his entire life being wiped out in the process. They had been best friends for decades, it was really the next logical step for them to start a relationship. 

Tony's eyes traced Steve's features as he turned slightly towards his bedroom- biting his lip as he smiled. That smile told Tony so much--there wasn't a doubt in Tony's mind that Steve loved Bucky, and probably always had. All he had needed was for Tony to get out of his way.

Tiberius was right after all.

Even though it was nothing more than a silly fantasy, and one that he had scarcely allowed himself to acknowledge Tony could feel something in him close up. His only escape had been sealed shut. There really were no white knights.   
Lost in his own head, Tony was caught off guard when Steve's hand reached for him, and he couldn't stop himself from violently recoiling from the soldier’s touch.

"Tony, I'm sorry, are you okay?" The taller man's brows were furrowed and his eyes reflected worry at Tony’s unusual reaction

"Oh god, sorry- I don't know…I don't what came over me just now." Tony scrambled to regain his composure under Steve's now heightened watchfulness.

"I just have to check you; you hit the cement pretty hard." Steve reached for Tony again, slower this time. Trying to play it off, deflect Steve’s attention, Tony smirked. "Come on, Cap, we both know I've taken harder hits."

"I'm just making sure." Steve rolled his eyes with a smile, and before Tony could retreat any further, Steve was standing in front of him, starting what should have been, after all, a routine post-mission check.

Tony could only sit rigid and still as Steve's hands slid over his chest and unbuttoned the shirt. But as he slipped the shirt from Tony’s shoulders, Steve's whole body froze, too, his eyes concentrated on Tony's body, taking in the obvious damage. Tony’s skin was covered in welts: purple and black, yellowing at the edges, accompanied by dark pink hickeys that had since begun fading, and his otherwise clean skin looked greyish and cold due to the excessive hemorrhaging and clotting beneath the skin. The only part of Tony’s torso that still resembled itself was the chilly blue glow of the reactor--and even it seemed fainter.

"Tony…Jesus, what happened to you?"

"Training, like I told you before."

"Bullshit." Steve’s voice was a harsh whisper as his fingers hovered above the smaller man’s battered skin, not quite touching, as though he were afraid to cause Tony any more discomfort.

Even now, with Steve coming very close to seeing the lie that Tony’s life had become, Tony still tried to brave it out. 

"I don't know what to tell you, Steve."

"Tell me the goddamn TRUTH, Tony! Who did this to you?" As Steve’s voice and body shook with the anger starting to course through him, he instantly regretted raising his voice—Tony tensed and started to pull away, as though he now feared Steve. And that hurt Steve, almost more than seeing Tony’s poor torso. Steve let out a long even breath to calm himself down. He opened his eyes and spoke again in a hush.

"It's Tiberius, isn't it?"

This time Tony couldn't bring the words of denial past his throat, so he just slowly shook his head- too tense to even blink. In response, Steve arched his body over Tony, bringing his hands to cradle his face as if he were trying, hoping to find a reason to believe him. The alternative was too awful to imagine.

"Tony. Is. He. Hurting. You?"

"No, Steve, he's not."

Steve’s expression didn’t change; clearly, he didn’t believe Tony, but he also didn’t know how to proceed from this point. For lack of anything else to say or do, he ran his hands up Tony's chest, bringing his fingers to rest gently on the Arc Reactor. 

Tony watched Steve for a long time, until the soldier’s tender scrutiny became unbearable. Caving in to the desire he couldn’t ignore anymore, Tony pulled up and kissed the blonde man on the lips. Steve didn't pull away, not even when Tony deepened the kiss and slipped his tongue into his mouth, hungry with need for more of the concern and care Steve had shown him. In response, Steve wound one arm around his waist and his other hand on the back of his neck.

Tony started kissing Steve's jawline and worked his way down his neck and chest before slowly tugging his pants down. Tony pressed his lips to the thick bulge through the clean white cotton briefs, lingering a while before pulling the briefs down too. He ran his mouth to the base where the course hairs bristled against his lips down to the tip slowly, circling his tongue around the ridge and finally over the slit, making Steve moan. He slid his hands up and down the length, vigorously making it slicker with pre-come. As Steve's breathing quickened Tony wrapped his lips around Steve's cock, holding the other man's hips, moving his mouth and tongue faster to stay in pace with Steve's breathing.

The rhythm, however, was interrupted by Steve jerking away and hoisting Tony up against the wall and all but ripping his pants and boxers off of him before throwing off his own iconic uniform top. Steve grabbed a small tube of lubricant out of the side table drawer; Tony bit his lip and ignored the slight burn of the Super Soldier easing into him—it seemed, in a way, to purge away Ty’s earlier abuse.

A thin sheen of sweat covered the both of them as Steve's hips lost their rhythmic rolling and became wild and erratic. Tony's entire body shuddered as his orgasm reached its fever pitch and finally he came. Steve's every muscle tightened to the solidity of a diamond before a heavy moan and a quiver signaled his own climax before their bodies became slack and they were supporting themselves completely on each other as their breathing slowing down to a normal rate again.

A moment later, Steve withdrew and pulled away. He pulled on a pair of navy sweat pants and Tony slid back into his own jeans and T-shirt. The lack of physical reassurance and tender words after the act, the heavy silence—all were telling indications of what would come next.

They stood before each other. Tony absently noted that Steve's hair was an absolute mess, before his eyes eventually fell onto the dog tags around Steve’s neck. Nothing new, of course, Tony had assumed that these were Steve’s but looking at them now- glinting in the dull lamplight- his stomach turned as he read the engraved name.

_James Buchanan Barnes._

Steve followed his eyes and wrapped a hand around the tags, looking more guilty and ashamed than Tony had ever seen.

"I-I-I'm so sorry Tony. I don't know how I let this happen. It was a mistake."

"I have to go." Tony blurted out suddenly and loudly, not wanting to hear any more of Steve’s shame and regret.

"Please don't go back there, Tony. Don’t go back to Ty. I love Bucky but-"

Tony's breath hitched. The dire truth and adoration that drowned those three words seared in his chest.

"But I'll never stop caring for you. Just stay here."

"Goodbye, Steve."

As Tony pulled the door closed behind him, he wiped the tears from his eyes and stepped away from Steve’s home.

Each step caused him a sorrowful ache, but paradoxically, Every step felt like it took him a mile further away from the pain of Steve. But it also took Tony further from safety and sanity, closer to an unknown future in which he would exist for whatever love he could get from the one person who still loved him.


	5. Chapter 5

It's been a long, slow year since that night with Steve alone in his apartment. Loneliness, inertia, and dependence had tied Tony to Ty firmly, and little by little, he began to become more drawn into Ty’s orbit and world, and spent less time in his own.

Just a few months ago, Ty had insisted that he and Tony move into a bigger penthouse, and between the two of them they landed some pretty damn nice digs. Floor-to-ceiling windows everywhere let in plenty of light. The top three floors of the high-rise building were all theirs; the master bedroom was on the top floor, the kitchen, public space, and guest rooms were on the main floor, and the lower floor...that was his. Tony’s. His lab, his bots, his suits, his space, all his own. And the entire penthouse was accessible by a single elevator that only opened onto the main floor.

"Plenty of privacy." Tiberius had said when they'd moved in.

Tony knew what that meant; he remembered the way his throat closed a little with fearful apprehension, but he had grinned and winked back at Ty.

Steve and Tony spoke on at least a weekly basis, but it bothered Tony that he didn't know as much about Steve's personal life as he was used to. There was now a distance between them, a lonely, echoing absence of intimacy, strengthened by the presence of Tony’s unacknowledged misery and Steve’s undisputed happiness.

One evening, as Tony stepped off the elevator, into the penthouse, JARVIS instantly greeted him. “Good evening, sir.”

"Hey, J. Miss me?" Tony asked as he headed to the wet bar to pour himself a scotch and water...wait, no water.

"Counted the seconds sir. Master Stone requested I inform you that he will be out of town on business for the next three days. He is due to return on Tuesday morning."

"So it’s gonna be a girls’ weekend. Cool."Tony’s tone did a decent job hiding how excited he actually was to have the place, and his body, to himself for a few days, to not have to walk on glass for Ty.

"May I also point out that the mail has gone unchecked for some time, sir. It is stacked on the table in the foyer."

"Really, mail? I still get actual mail? What is this, the Middle Ages?"

Apparently it wasn’t, as evidenced by the formidable pile of envelopes Tony had tucked under his arm after he returned from the foyer. Tony plopped down on the couch and started thumbing through it. As he expected, he saw nothing exciting or unusual--until an envelope much smaller than the others loosened from the pile and fell to the floor.  
After declaring the rest to be junk and tossing it into the trash, Tony picked up the little envelope off the floor. The envelope was thick and cream-colored, much fancier than anything they normally received. It wasn't addressed to either man in particular, just the penthouse itself.

"JARVIS, please tell me this isn't anthrax."

"My scans show that its contents are only paper, sir."

Tony rolled his eyes before sliding a finger under the crease and pulling out the paper inside.

It was a crisp white little rectangle, that's all it should have been. Except it wasn't. It was a piece of paper that cut straight into Tony’s heart.

At the top center, engraved in silver ink, was a sketch of two different personalized dog-tags on one chain. And Tony would know the artist’s work anywhere. It took everything in him to continue down to the writing itself, Deep-black ink calligraphy scrolled neatly onto the parchment, and innocently informed Tony:  
You and your guest are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of

_Steven Grant Rogers  
and  
James Buchanan Barnes  
On June the 16th at 1:00pm  
Most Holy Trinity-St. Mary's Church  
Brooklyn, New York_

Tony swallowed hard before squeezing his eyes closed and allowing the invitation to slip out of his hands and back onto the floor, where he wished to holy fuck he had left it all along. He backed onto the couch and sunk into it. Glancing over to the calendar on his phone he saw that today was June 9th, and JARVIS hadn’t been joking when he said the mail hadn't been checked in a while. No wonder Tony hadn't seen much of Steve or Bucky lately. They had been busy planning their fucking wedding.

Tony didn't even know he fell asleep until the phone woke him up. Turning his head, the first thing he noticed was the thick, heavy feeling around his eyes that told him he'd been crying. Then there were a million thoughts spilling back into his head and before they got the better of him he decided to answer the phone. It was SHEILD; they needed Iron Man and they needed him quick. So Tony sat up, rubbing his eyes vigorously with his forearm to erase the evidence of his crying jag. Once on the rooftop terrace of their penthouse, he suited up and took off towards the Helicarrier.

Entering the conference room, Tony expected to see the Avengers, or at least one or two of them. Instead he found himself seated across the wide glass table from no other than Agent Barnes himself. Of course that's who it was, it had to be, because he was Tony Stark and if Tony Stark's relationship with the universe could be described in one word it would be "irony."

"Mr. Stark, if you're done ogling Agent Barnes, I'd like to get started."

Fury was such a dick sometimes. Tony refused to allow the Director to discompose him, though. 

"Okay, you have my permission to start, Nick." Tony leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together expectantly.

"This mission is top priority. It requires genius, muscle, and expertise but most of all it requires being able to bend the rules without getting caught. That's why I chose the two of you--

"--I don't really want to dress as a woman, but if I have to I will--"

"Shut up, Stark" Fury continued seamlessly. "The mark is a man named Nikolai Vanko."

"Vanko?" Now Tony perked up a bit at the name, actually taking this seriously. He felt Barnes’ attention focus on him.

"Yeah, Ivan Vanko's little brother. I'm sure you remember him from the Expo incident a few years back...He's got information that could be hazardous in the wrong hands, which is exactly where it’s headed."

"What kind of information?" Barnes asked, sounding rather bored.

"Schematics concerning Arc Reactor technology along with a few other blue prints of Stark's newer tech. We believe someone working for AIM supplied the info to him under the table during the ordeal with Aldrich Killian. Along with Stark's schematics, Nikolai has also gotten his hands on components of the Super Soldier Serum, most likely derived from the Extremis failure, Dr. Banner’s research, and mostly-charred journals found in an abandoned Hydra base near the end of WWII. Our intel indicates that the journals have been in Vanko's family for quite some time, since Nikolai's great grandfather was a Russian soldier on the Eastern front in the war. Even though this sounds like it would be a wealth of information on the Serum, it’s yielded only small bits and pieces. Nothing he could use to recreate it himself."

"But he's not keeping it for himself, is he?" Tony crossed his arms.

"No, that's where you two come in. In 48 hours’ time Vanko will be in motion from Moscow to who knows where to transfer the information to Red Room officials, who in exchange have promised him a position in their science division."

"Red Room." Barnes' voice was stiff and his eyes hard, practically drilling into the table.

"The information on Stark's tech and the Serum is being stored on a device that looks like a flash drive- inconspicuous, easy to hide, and easy to destroy. Make no mistake, however, it’s not a flash drive. It's a unique drive meant to be compatible with a specific interface so you'll be able to tell it apart from a decoy. We've contacted both of your significant others and told them you'd be out on recon in Croatia for a few days- they're too close to the situation to be trusted to go on this mission with you- The Captain especially"

Somewhere in the back his head Tony laughed bitterly. On his bad days—of which there were many-- Ty wouldn't care one way or the other if Tony came back alive.

Barnes, on the other hand, seemed to soften his gaze just a fraction and Tony knew he'd never be able to understand the look on the other man’s face, what memory was crossing his mind, what image of Steve he'd conjured up, or what long-kept promise had been made between the two of them a lifetime ago. And everything about that left Tony feeling dead.

"There's a Quinjet waiting on deck to drop you into Moscow while it’s still dark. Watch out for each other and stay hidden. Dismissed."

Fury turned and left leaving just the two of them in the conference room, contemplating the mission before them and their new partnership.

The hell of it was, as much as Tony was hurting right now, he was pretty damned sure he was still in better shape in Barnes’ company than he would be in Ty’s.


	6. Chapter 6

“The sooner we go the sooner we can get back, right?” Bucky grinned as he stood up.

“Yeah.” 

Wow, he even impressed himself with the lack of enthusiasm there. He knew this was going to be a long mission and he knew none of his drama was Bucky's fault....but still.  
The flight was short enough and they were over the drop zone in Moscow before he knew it. 

After touching down in a particularly sleazy part of town Bucky walked straight up to a shady looking character on a street corner. Just as Tony was about to ask what the Hell he was doing, he started speaking perfect Russian to the man, who in return said a few words and pointed down the an alleyway. 

“What was that?” Tony inquired as Bucky was back at his side.

“I asked where the closest, cheapest hotel was.”

“And he said it was in the doom and gloom alleyway?”

“Welcome to Russia my friend.” Bucky shot him big smile over his shoulder.

The place was about what you'd expect, they'd checked into a room under fake names and paid in cash. After setting the newest version of the suitcase armor next to one of the cot-like beds he surveyed the place. Peeling wallpaper that possibly could have been a white or cream color at one point but was now a sad brownish yellow. Wood plank flooring that creaked with even the slightest movement and would certainly leave some nasty splinters if walked on without shoes. The single window with a pane slathered in chipping lead paint couldn’t be closed all the way, leaving it permanently cracked open an inch.

“So our best lead is to start at Nikolai's apartment building. It's about a mile from here so we'll have to get moving within the hour if we want to beat the sunrise.” Tony mused.

“He's not leaving Moscow for until tomorrow morning, that'll give us time to gather what we can. We'll keep an eye on him today, listen in on his calls and see who comes and goes from the building. Then we get ready to move when he does. One night here and that's it so don’t get comfortable, Stark.” 

Bucky's half cocked smirk and bright eyes made it impossible for Tony to wish for some kind of freak accident to wipe out Barnes and put Steve back in his attainability. He didn't hate Bucky, not even a little bit. But he was agonizingly, endlessly and hopelessly jealous of him.  
They grabbed the few things they'd need and headed out, ultimately setting up on a rooftop adjacent building to Nikolai's. Tall enough that no one would notice them unless they were consciously looking for two hidden agents on a random rooftop. The whole day yielded about what they expected: no visitors, no suspicious persons leaving the building, not even a phone call to be tapped. Just a few glimpses of the thin man in his thirties through the open blinds.

So after twelve hours of absolutely ass numbing boredom they headed back to their hotel room. Once the duffel bags were appropriately packed and weapons appropriately loaded they turned in for the night. Sleep found them both easy enough but Tony found himself shivering no more than and hour and half later. Why he'd chosen the bed next to the window he'd never know. He kept his eyes shut as his teeth chattered and he futility pulled the scratchy, thin blanket up higher. He focused on an ambiguous stain on the ceiling until he was able to drift off again. 

The second time he woke it wasn't because of the cold but a noise that was halfway between a gasp and a whimper. He opened his eyes and immediately saw the reason his shivering hadn’t bothered him again, a second blanket, a thermal black long sleeve shirt and a warm lined coat all draped evenly over his body. It was still pretty fucking cold but he felt a hundred times better now, at least he could move his fingers again. Being only one possible person who could have warmed him up he turned his head to the man in the bed next to his. This had also apparently been the source of the noise that woke him.

Bucky lay on the bed stripped down to a pair of Steve's sweats. The same navy blue pair Steve had pulled on after their time together a year ago. And surely there around Bucky's neck, nestled into his collarbone hung a achingly familiar set of dog tags displaying the name of one Capt. Steven Rogers. Even though these details made Tony's stomach want to flip he couldn't bring himself to linger on them at the moment. Not when Barnes was lying stiff on the sad excuse of a bed, his skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat making chunks of chestnut hair cling to his forehead, every last one of his muscles coiled and tightened in a painful looking way, his faced caught in a permanent grimace as if a knife he'd just been stabbed with wouldn't stop twisting. His metal arm at his side clutching at the icy air, the glint of a silver engagement ring visible against his silver finger. His eyes shut so tightly it looked like they might never open again. But maybe the most upsetting thing the unraveling man in front of Tony was the erratic gasping for air and angry or desperate or begging cries for something he couldn't give Bucky to save him from the images his mind was drowning him with. 

Tony knew better than most not to wake a person caught in nightmare like this one. All he could do was watch the infamous man once known as the Winter Soldier writhe on a lonely cot in a freezing room miles away from the one person who might have been able to help him. And in that moment, just before he slipped back into sleep, Tony realized that maybe, just maybe, Steve didn't really mind helping to pick up the broken shards of someone as utterly fucked up as Bucky. Or even him. Maybe. Along with the realization he heard Ty's voice echoing in his head.

“How dare you compare yourself to Bucky. You're a spoiled brat who's fucked more people over than anyone. Bucky is the one who deserves a second chance, Bucky is the one who deserves Steve. Not you! Steve can heal Bucky because Bucky still has a soul somewhere in him. But you know what you'd do to Steve, don't you Tony? If he ever hated himself enough to take you back that is......you'd be ripping the wings right off an angel. After all that's what you do best. Taking something that could have been extraordinary and turning it into a lifeless fucking machine just like you. You make me so sick sometimes I can't stand it. You're lucky I love you, Tony. You really are.”

“I know Ty. I know.” Tony whispered into the darkness to nobody.

And with that, Tony wished Ty was with him as the hot tears rolled down the sides of his face and onto his pillow. He wanted so badly to be in the arms of the only man who could ever love a machine.


	7. Chapter 7

Even though it felt like it never would- morning did eventually come. They got ready, got in position and the first day of tailing Nikolai went off without a hitch. Neither man mentioned anything about last night. Despite it being June, the weather had been unseasonably cold since they arrived. “Maybe Malibu's always sunny and warm but you're a long way from home, Tin Soldier.” was how Barnes so lovingly put it. 

By dusk they were finding it difficult to stay hidden as they were on a stretching two lane road in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. Dense clouds hung so low they made the sky feel like it was closing in on them. Looking out the window there were empty fields as far as he could see- not the best set up. It was Barnes' shift to drive and he was staring blankly out the passenger side window when the car slowed down to almost a stop. Barnes' eyebrows were creasing together making Tony look to the road in front of them, and there he saw Nikolai's junky old truck, the truck they'd been trailing since before the sun came up, slowing down and pulling off onto the shoulder. Shit, shit, shit, shit he must have figured out that the brown '81 Lada that just so happened to be somewhere in seeing distance ever since he left Moscow, might actually be following him. For someone with such valuable information Nikolai was nowhere near paranoid enough.

“Get the map out of the glove box, quick.” Barnes' muttered with minimal lip movement.

Tony plucked the map out of the glove and unfolded it completely, letting it take up as much awkward space as possible. He heard the door of the truck in front of them slam closed followed by footsteps ambling towards them. Nikolai Vanko was a tall man and lean with very pale skin, he had hair that was so blonde it was white and gray eyes underlined by dark circles in sunken sockets. In one word, Nikolai looked ill.

“Are you boys lost?” Nikolai asked in a heavily accented but sincere voice.

“Yes actually, we're tourists.” Bucky smiled back.

“You're pretty far from anywhere civilized. That's a long a way to go before pulling out a map don’t you think?”

Shit.

“I figured we'd run into something eventually, I hate admitting defeat.” Bucky's laugh came easy.

“How long did you think you could go before I noticed you were following me?”

Double Shit.

“I think we got pretty far.” 

God, Barnes do you have a death wish?

“Far enough for no one to find you a bullet between your pretty eyes.”

“You really think they're pretty? Do they sparkle when I talk?”

Tony knew that James Barnes would be the death of him when he heard the shots before he saw the gun. Barnes' pulled the gun he'd had beneath his thigh out just as fast. Tony grabbed the suitcase armor from the floor by his feet and backed out of the car, ducking down and sliding under the car safely out of the crossfire. He laid flat on his back as the armor assembled around him, the faceplate snapped shut and the HUD appeared blaring red.

“Give me the goods, JARVIS.” Tony said hoisting onto his elbows slightly.

“The drive containing the desired information in currently on Vanko's person.”

“Any idea where?”

“On a chain around his neck, sir.”

As soon as he saw Barnes' boots hit the pavement he flung the car off of him and bared his repulsors at Nikolai. Taking Nikolai's brief distraction to his advantage Barnes' wrapped his hand around their enemy's throat and lifted him off the ground.  
“We know you have the schematics, Vanko.” Tony declared strutting to the pair.  
Nikolai squirmed and swung his legs around wildly in a vain effort to kick Bucky off him.  
“Give them up and come quietly.” The genius finished.

Nikolai bit down on Bucky's wrist, when nothing happened Bucky smirked and pulled his sleeve up revealing his technologically advanced prosthetic. Tony's stomach dropped when he saw Nikolai smirk back, in less than a second a flat round device was produced from under Vanko's sleeve and into his palm. Nikolai emitted an electric current down Bucky's arm and into his body, leaving him convulsing. If it had been his other arm Nikolai would've be suffocated as a person is unable relax their muscles when electrocuted. The cybernetic arm however was temporarily short-circuited and Nikolai freed himself. His next target being Tony of course sent him careening in the Armored Avengers direction.

Nikolai slammed his hand down onto the faceplate releasing another electric charge and Tony experienced a wave of Deja Vu as Nikolai's shirt was burned away by the metal exoskeleton that clung to his body, supplying at least 50,000 volts around his torso. Leaving sparks and crackling bits of burning light flying off his body. No whips this time though, nothing long range, just power outlets in the palms of his hands for maximum control. So at least he was a little bit smarter than big brother....but still not as smart as Tony Stark.  
Nikolai tried a second time to fry Tony's head inside his helmet but to no avail.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t be prepared for this after meeting Ivan?” 

Tony couldn’t help laughing a little but hey it's what the world has come to expect from him.  
“Do not sully my dear brother's name on your filthy tongue!”

Tony flipped Nikolai over his shoulder and pressed his boot into his chest pinning him to the black asphalt. 

“Vy budete osen'yu etogo mira Toni Stark! Ty d'yavol, kotoryy ubil moyego brata nevinnykh! “

“Then why don't you go join him.” Tony murmured darkly before impaling him with the boot that held him down.

A strained gurgling and a few jerks of his limbs and that was all, Nikolai Vanko was no more. He bent over and snapped the chain off of his neck, sure enough dangling there on the end was the peculiar looking drive they'd come for. He held out in front of him as he walked back to where Bucky stood waiting with his arms crossed.

“I'm usually the one doing the dirty work. I should do ops with you more often, Stark.”

Bucky's voice was light and playful, Tony knew he wouldn't judge his unusual display of violent aggression. Barnes didn't exactly have a leg to stand on in that department anyways. And it didn't take a Tony Stark to figure out where that outburst had come from, a man can only be beaten so many nights before the urge to return the favor manifested. Even if the person on the receiving end wasn’t the one he'd be returning home to. Snapping out his fog Tony saw Barnes' shift just over his right shoulder. Barnes reacted before Tony could even register the action.

“Tony get down!” Were the next words flying at him.

Barnes sprinted and grabbed the billionaire's arms, flinging Tony to the ground behind him. Time stopped as he watched Nikolai finish pulling a 500 S&W Magnum out of the waist of his jeans and fire eight shots into Barnes' abdomen before shooting himself in the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have found the perfect Tiberius Stone! Seriously, check this guy out:
> 
> http://dream-down-the-machines.tumblr.com/post/51445577593/i-have-found-my-tiberius-stone


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this thing has a happy ending....eventually.

Tony found himself scrambling on all fours to the brunette, lacking a better option he was forced to remove the gauntlets and apply pressure to the bleeding with his hands and God was there a lot of blood, rushing out of him like goddamn fountain, warm and thick as it spilled onto the pavement under them.

"God, Oh God. Bucky stay with me! Do you hear me? You're not done yet!" Tony yelled at him.

Bucky turned his face from the sky to meet his bright gray-blue eyes to Tony's deep brown ones. He opened his mouth to speak but all the came out was more blood followed by coughing a sputtering before he was able to rasp out

"I was supposed to get married in a week..." He laughed weakly.

"Fuck Bucky! You ARE getting married in a week! Medevac is on its way, you can't quit now! For fucks sake think about Steve!" The words just tumbled out of Tony's mouth one after another.

"Will..you..." It was getting harder for Bucky to breathe but he continued anyways.

"Will you...tell Steve that I'm sorry...I'm sorry I won't make it home this time...and that I love him...ever since we were stupid...stupid kids...more than anything...I love him."

Tony could hear the helicopter landing somewhere behind them, doctors, surgeons and nurses running to them urgently. But he couldn't comprehend much through the ringing in his ears as he stared down, unblinkingly at the man who had everything he'd ever wanted now draining out on a nameless street in the middle of a wasteland.

Things got hazy after that, when he came back around again Tony found himself in a hard plastic chair in a hallway of a SHEILD medical center in New York. They must have transported them directly to the fully equipped hospital dictated to SHEILD and only SHEILD, they most likely didn't have the luxury of laying over on the Helicarrier given the severity of Barnes' injuries. Bucky...he couldn't remembered what happened after the helicopter landed. Did he die? Tony lifted his head, which to his pleasant surprise wasn't sore or aching like he'd expected. He realized it was because the warm soothing thing it had been resting on wasn't the pillow he assumed it was, it was Tiberius' chest. Taking more care to actually figure out where he was and what was happening Tony surveyed his surroundings and determined that yes, this was a hallway in a SHEILD med center in New York and yes, he was wrapped in the reassuring weight of Ty's arms with his head tucked comfortably into Ty's chest. Tony took the smallest millisecond to appreciate that Tiberius had even brought a blanket to cover him with too. Due to Tony's increase in movement, Ty started to stir before opening his eyes. He blinked rapidly the at harsh florescent light before stroking Tony's hair and looking down at him.

"You're awake." He smiled sleepily at the dark haired man in his embrace.

"Yeah." Tony smiled back.

This. Everything about this was perfect.

"What happened? What happened to Bucky?" Tony asked knowing that the moment couldn't last. Not here.

"Shhhh." Ty pressed a kiss into his hair.

"It's alright, everything's alright now, baby. You've been checked over and you aren't hurt, barely even a scratch. Agent Barnes was rushed into emergency surgery the minute you guys arrived. The operation lasted quite a few hours but he's going to be just fine. He's recovering in the ICU."

Tony let out the breath he'd been holding since the empty road in Russia as Ty continued.

"Agent Coulson called Captain Rogers and I immediately. Both of us of course dropped everything and got here as fast as humanly-or in the Captain's case super-humanly possible. You were insistent on waiting outside the ICU so here we are and Captain Rogers has yet to leave Bucky's side since he's been allowed to see him."

Tony took a deep breath as he felt the weight lift off of him.

"He isn't awake yet but do you want to go in and see him?" Ty asked.

"No, I don't want to barge in there after the Hell they've been through today."

Ty gave him an understanding smile, for someone not in the superhero biz Tiberius seemed to get it much more than the other "Non-heroes" he's been with.

Tony leaned up kissed Ty on the mouth.

"Let's go home, I'm beat."

He wasn't an idiot. He knew this good mood Ty was in couldn't last and he'd slip up or Ty would have a bad day and the bruises would come again. They always did. He didn't deserve this in anything more than small doses and he was dead set on enjoying it while it was here. It was the day before Steve and Bucky's wedding when it all came crashing down again. Tony was down in his lab tinkering when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey babe." Tony greeted without turning around.

Ty wrapped his arms around Tony's shoulders after setting the Gin and Tonic he'd brought down in Tony's hand. Grinning, Tony tossed back a mouthful of the beverage. Ty kissed his temple then down his neck and onto his collarbone as the smaller man finished his drink.. The blonde's hands pulled Tony's t-shirt up over his head and tossed it aside. Tony spun around on the stool and ran his hands through his boyfriend's hair.

"You know I tried so hard, right?" Ty mumbled.

"What?"

"Your pretty little CEO, I tried so hard to ignore it. To let it go."

"Pepper. Her name is Pepper."

"Hm, you were at the office late three nights this week. I really tried to let it go, darling. I did."

"I was working Ty. I had to catch up on some things I missed while on that mission. Pepper wasn't there at all it was just me, I can have JARVIS show you the-"

Tony was unable to finish his sentence due to being slapped so hard his jaw popped. Tiberius pushed him onto the smooth concrete floor, straddled his hips and started slipping his hands into Tony's jeans. Tony's own hands shot up grappling with Ty's trying to get them out his briefs.

"No!" Tony pushed the force into his voice.

"Engaging Subitis Salutem Protocol." JARVIS' voice filled the room.

Tony had never heard that one engaged before but he knew what it was. Emergency safety measures that would not only alert the Avengers of the emergency but also release a non-fatal microbial gas through the ventilation system that would render anything that could breathe paralyzed for three straight hours. Thus keeping him safe until help arrived. It was a protocol he put in place after Obadiah stunned him and plucked the Reactor right out of his chest.

"Disengage." Tony shot back.

"Sir-"

"Override. Initiate manual shutdown."

The came silence as his AI, DUM-E, Butterfingers and U all powered down against their will. The last thing he needed was the Avengers storming in and seeing this and once they knew it wouldn't be long before the whole world did, for God's sake he still at least a shred of dignity left.

"There's my good boy." Ty smiled sweetly as he brushed his hand through Tony's hair.

He leaned slid his hands back down below Tony's navel, running a finger down the trail of dark that disappeared beneath the waist of his jeans. With one hand he undid the button and zipper.

"Ty, no." Tony pushed his knee up to put some space between the two of them.

Ty placed his palm on Tony's thigh and leaned back a little, something glinting in his eyes and Tony started to feel light headed dizzy. His head rolled off to the side a little which made Tiberius smile.

Then it clicked, the Gin and Tonic he'd been so eager to inhale was drugged. There was no getting around the affect it was starting to have. He clenched his hand into a fist while he still had control of his limbs and slammed it into to Ty's temple making him lose his balance for just over a few seconds. Ty straightened back up as he rubbed the tender area slowly, Tony glared up at him- slightly proud of his handiwork.

"Oh Anthony, I love it when you get rebellious." Ty brought the hand the struck him up to his soft lips and kissed it.

"You have no idea what it does to me." He finished in a purr.

Tiberius rested his cheek in Tony's now relaxed hand. Tony could feel all his strength leaving his body and each breath made him impossibly tired, he could feel the drug taking him over and so could Ty. With what he had left, he attempted to pull his hand back but Ty was much quicker than him in this state. Ty gripped Tony's wrist tightly with one hand and the spot just below his elbow with the other, twisting violently in opposite directions until a sickening snap was heard. Tony writhed and shrieked as the pain shooting up his now useless arm whited out his vision. The excruciation coupled with the drug in his bloodstream efficiently dropped him into unconsciousness.

Tony woke up after an undermined amount of time in an ordinary ER- New York Presbyterian if he wasn't mistaking- so no SHEILD or Avengers ended up involved at least. His harm was secured in a cast and sling over his chest. Tiberius was nowhere to be seen. Then the curtain that provided privacy from the other beds was pulled open and then closed again as a nurse entered his...well, it wasn't a room...so... square? She entered his square.

"Good afternoon Mr. Stark. How are we feeling?"

"Great, you guys must have me on the good stuff."

The nurse shifted her weight, not out of unease but out of a show of experience.

"Mr. Stark are you aware of how you got here?" She asked.

"Yeah I uh- a prototype I was working on got a little out of hand." He laughed lightly.

"Your boyfriend, Mr. Stone said that he found you downstairs clutching your arm after he heard a commotion and came to check on you."

"Sounds about right."

"However, we found indications that suggest there were additional activities that took place."

"Oh the bruises and...?" Tony found himself unable to finish that sentence.

The nurse kept her eyes on him.

"We got a little hot and heavy this morning, that's all." He recovered.

"I see." She had probably seen countless cases like this, she knew what really happening.

She told him was free to be discharged and waited outside for him get dressed, when he finished she escorted him towards the waiting room where she said Tiberius was waiting. She stopped just short of turning the last corner making him do the same.

"Mr. Stark..."

Her voice was soft and low as he looked at the petite woman.

"What you do in your personal life and how you choose be intimate with your partner is entirely your own business. But if you ever find things getting...out of hand, please call us."

Her smile was warm, empathetic and so sad. Tony brushed her off with a thanks and grinned his blindingly enthusiastic grin. He turned the corner and sauntered to Tiberius who was waiting for him with soft eyes and a gentle smile. The taller man hugged him being mindful of the overall aching that still throbbed throughout Tony's body.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wedding fluff! I thought we could use a break from the trauma :)

They left the Emergency Room and went out for a nice dinner before spending the night watching bad Kung-Fu movies from the 70s and cuddling on their plush king sized bed. Tony fell asleep that night inhaling the enticing combination mahogany, citrus and sandalwood- the familiar and sweet scent that was distinctly Tiberius'. He dreamed that night of a life so perfect he couldn't never have it, not even in his dreams and felt comforted by the idea that what he had with Ty was close enough for someone who had no right to even be alive.

The two of them got an earlier start than usual to get ready for the ceremony only hours away. Tony-ever the sharply dressed- put on a dark navy blue suit with a charcoal gray dress shirt and a black tie along with a black and white pair of classic Nike sneakers. Of course the outfit was thrown slightly off by the black arm sling and cast he was sporting but he still looked damn good. Ty reappeared in the living room wearing a form hugging black suit, black shirt and a matching black tie, the whole get up made his eyes look like they were glowing. In one word Tony found him gloriously, elegantly and devastatingly sexy right now. Okay four words.

Pulling up to the church in one of Tony's many absurdly expensive cars they were a bit taken aback by a.) the fact the Steve and Bucky had chosen such a public and beautiful venue, he didn't think they'd care if they were married in a barn for all it mattered to them. And b.) The hoards of Paparazzi and civilians swarming the front entrance to catch a glimpse of the couple of any one of the famous super-powered guests that would be in attendance. Well as close as they could get to the entrance anyways. Police officers stood on guard and had barricaded a wide stretch of sidewalk allowing a lot of space for guests to enter the church, they even had a few streets closed off to redirect traffic away from the event.

"All this for a wedding?" Ty mused as he took Tony's good arm and helped him out of the car.

"They're New York's golden boys." Tony returned with a big goofy smile that killed him to summon and an exaggerated wave for the cameras.

Inside they found seats that were much too close to the alter than Tony would have liked. Glancing around they saw everybody from the X-Men to the Fantastic Four to a few people dressed in military uniforms and of course every last Avenger and SHEILD agent imaginable. If they were in the world saving game they were here and considering that no one on the team, save a certain Asgaurdian, had any actual family to speak of he knew it meant a lot to all of them. Including himself. Bringing him out of his thoughts was Ty's arm resting itself over his shoulders and pulling him in close, Tony gazed deeply into the other man's ice-blue eyes before all attention was turned elsewhere.

George Gershwin's Someone To Watch Over Me began to flow in and cradle the sanctuary, brushing along the vast ceiling arches and delicate stained glass windows that rose up the walls and bathed the church in a warm golden light. Everyone stood up and looked towards the huge wooden doors opening behind them. Entering first was Steve walking alongside Thor.

Steve was dressed in an impeccable black suit with a crisp white dress shirt and silk black tie- looking as genuinely perfect as anyone could imagine him. Thor in all of his royal poise striding besides him in the same classic three-piece gray suit with a white shirt and silver tie that all of the groomsmen were wearing but it seemed to leave Thor looking even more God-like than usual. Tony had refused to let himself linger on the choice of the best man, he understood why Steve couldn't have asked it of him and now that he was here he couldn't be more grateful. They reached the alter and took their designated places- Steve looking more nervous that Tony previously believed humanly possible. Watching the super soldier draw in a deep, full bodied breath and Thor grinning his lionhearted grin behind him left a dead feeling inside Tony's chest.

He wanted more than anything in the world for Steve to see him, just a glance. But right now the love of his life only had eyes for the love of his own. Bucky was halfway to the alter when Tony ripped his stare off of Steve. Arm in arm with Natasha who wore a strapless dress the same shade of gray as the others with black patent leather high heels and a matching hair piece with bird-cage netting that came down over her emerald eyes. Bucky was in an intricate Victorian style suit in all white with a dark navy blue tie and Converse. He looked more than remarkable in the outfit but what served as the focal point were the crutches Bucky was walking on. Still clearly recovering from their mission just a week ago, Natasha also served as balance support to prevent any painful jostling as he steadily approached his fiance. Nat gave him off to Steve who's smile right now could power the entire country.

It all proceeded seamlessly and soon enough it was time to exchange vows. Tony regretted not moving to the back when he had the chance because now he couldn't leave without every last person there watching him do it. Tony prayed to be somehow transported somewhere else, anywhere else but here in Brooklyn, New York, in their hometown, in this immaculate church, at this wedding that was so utterly perfect. This wedding that might have been his.

"Steve..." Bucky started to speak and Tony could hardly bear it.

"I've been in love with you since 1933. Whether I was waking up in our old orphanage, on the front lines, in some Godforsaken Russian laboratory, in this new century I'm still getting a grip on or when I'm luckier than I have any right to be-next to you I wake up with your name on my lips. When the world became dark and I didn't even remember my own name, I held on to yours. You're the one thing that no one could take from me, the one thing that has and always will be mine alone to protect, to cherish and to hold. Until the world stops turning I will place you above all else. From this day I vow to keep your heart in place of my own, to defend you even when you're wrong and love you fiercely for every second that you'll have me."

Bucky's voice started sounding chocked near the end and Steve's eyes were glassy and red.

"Bucky, I can't begin to count the times you've saved me from everything from death to my own thoughts. You have always loved me for all I am and all I'm not... the skinny little runt who doesn't know when to say when, the stubborn soldier running headlong into enemy territory with no semblance of a plan, Captain America or the guy who sometimes yells at the TV in the morning- they're all the same in your eyes. A lifetime of never feeling quite good enough for anybody or anything but then I see you and that little half-smile you get when something turns out better than you expected it to...and I know without a doubt that this is all I could have ever dreamed to be because you're here with me. From this day I vow to keep you in my embrace always, to serve as the air in your lungs and the blood in your veins. I am happily forever indebted to you for making the ocean pulse, the stars light up and my life worth living. My one and my all."

Not a dry eye in the house. The priest then asked for the rings and an arrow with an adhesive tip whistled through the air and secured itself to the pulpit. On the tail of the arrow were two white-gold wedding bands hanging from a white ribbon, Steve took one and Bucky took the other.Twisting around he spotted Clint giving him a dorky thumbs-up from one of the balconies. At this point Tony was biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood.

"Do you James Buchanan Barnes take Steven Grant Rogers as your lawfully wedded husband for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"And do you Steven Grant Rogers take James Buchanan Barnes to be your lawfully wedded husband for as long as you both shall live?"

No, no, no, please let this shitty joke end.

"I do."

"If there are no objections as to why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Tony's hands hung limp in his lap and the tears spilled from his eyes leaving wet spots on his shirt collar.

"By the power vested in me by the state of New York now pronounce you man and husband. You may kiss the groom."

Then the entire place erupted into applauding and cheering and hollering and whistling when the newlyweds wasted no time in sharing a passionate kiss. Except for Tony Stark, who still couldn't stop the tears running down his face.


	10. Chapter 10

The reception on the hand was much easier to handle, Tony was able to socialize his friends. There were enough people to keep him from being bored and more importantly to avoid an awkward run in with either Steve or Buck...but mostly Steve. He actually had been spending most of the evening with Clint, Natasha, Thor, Bruce,Pepper and Ty - exactly the people he really wanted to be with, his friends. Thankfully they didn't interrogate him about his arm and accepted his story about a lab prototype gone wrong. Clint and Natasha's relationship was a strong as it ever, evident by the way a subconscious little smile tugged at the corners of Clint's mouth whenever she spoke and even though she'd never admit it the way Natasha's eyes would drift over look at him as if to make sure he was still really there said it all. Thor was as lighthearted as ever and lit up as he updated them all on what he and Jane have been up to lately. Pepper and Tony danced and joked and a few times found themselves laughing so hard they were crying. Bruce was quiet but clearly enjoying himself as he and Tony conversed on a level none of the others even tried keeping up with, sharing inside jokes that only they understood. Everyone at their table got along with Ty wonderfully, nothing that made his boyfriend tense up or leave the group abruptly, nothing that made the others look at each other with suspicion or unease. Tony was so relaxed and confident, this was the happiest he's been in a long long time.

Ty excused himself to go get he and Tony another glass of champagne, he kissed Tony before leaving and Tony watched him until he was no longer visible. Turning back around in his chair he was met with each one of his friends staring intensely at him.

"What?" This can't be good.

"You two have been together a while." Clint said nonchalantly.

"Okay, let's not take turns beating around the bush. Spill it."

The was a long silence as they each tried to will someone that wasn't them to speak. As he expected, it was Bruce who claimed the responsibility.

"Ever since you started seeing Tiberius...we hardly see you anymore. We see you on missions now and again but I think I speak for all of us when I say that's not good enough. We miss you Tony, every single one of us misses you."

"Are you asking me to leave Ty?"

"No, we don't have anything against Tiberius-"

"I do." Clint supplied.

"We're not asking you to end your relationship or change anything with Tiberius at all." Bruce continued, ignoring Clint.

"It's been agreed on by everyone unanimously and we want you to move back into the tower."

The proposition was so sudden that Tony forgot to breathe for a second. He sat there as they waited for a response of some kind, he wanted to say yes, of course. He wanted to tell them everything and watch from a safe distance as Thor exacted his revenge on Ty for sullying Tony's honor. Grab some popcorn and watch Natasha do what she does better than anyone. High five Clint and leave the reception to go play Xbox like they used to.

"Thanks guys, I uh...I have to think about it." He answered lamely.

Their faces all dropped the tiniest bit before they regained their previous composure, leaving the table silent.

"Jeez, who died?" Bucky's voice got their attention off of the moment.

It was at least their 20th trip to this table tonight, not to mention all the times one of them popped up out of nowhere to enjoy the company of their closest friends that might as well be family. But Tony had managed to "be in the bathroom" every time. Every time except this one.

"What do you say, Natalia? Want to show these people what dancing really is?"

"I was starting to think you'd never ask, James." She took his hand and they disappeared towards the dance-floor.

"May I have the honor?" Steve was holding out his hand as well.

Tony managed to nod his head in a way that was in no way up to Stark standards.

On the dance floor Steve let Tony take the lead and Tony was glad that at least some things hadn't changed.

"What happened to your arm?" There it is.

"Not even gonna give a change to congratulate you, Cap?"

"Tony, why are you staying with him?"

Tony stared at the blonde's chest as they swayed and turned to the melody. He felt the closeness of Steve's body- solid and safe. His muscular build contrasted against the elegance of his suit and the way his arm flexed around waist in a way that was so familiar. Tony almost couldn't take it.

"Because I love him Steve and he loves me too. You of all people should understand forgiving someone you love no matter what they did."

"That's not the same and you know it." Steve's jaw tightened.

Great, that's definitely the way to go Tony. Insult the man's husband on his wedding day. Wow.

"I know, I'm sorry I just-"

"I can't help you unless you actually want help, Tony...I just really want you to want help." His voice was gentle now.

"If I wanted to leave Ty I would have by now, can we please just drop it?"

Steve sighed and the look in his eyes sent knives into Tony's gut.

"Are you at least moving back in?"

"I have to think about it."

"You mean you have to beg Tiberius first."

Tony didn't answer, he let his eyes wander over Steve's shoulder to the other people dancing around them. Even on crutches and moving much more cautiously Bucky and Natasha still were more graceful and captivating dancers together than anyone else he'd ever seen. Using his other hand Steve brought Tony's head to rest on his chest, keeping his fingers in the brunette's hair.

"Please Tony I'm begging you. Please leave him."

The song ended. Tony went back the table before anyone could stop him. Steve stood alone, watching him getting farther away. Tony fell asleep in Tiberius' arms that night.


	11. Chapter 11

Another year and seven months passed. Tony tried really hard not to think about the fact that's he's given over two years of his life to directionless misery. On the depressingly bright side, he and Steve were pretty much inseparable again, he even got the luxury of staying the night at their place when he wanted to. For a while he got the guest bedroom but recently he's been happily taking the couch when he stayed over. The guest room in Steve and Bucky's apartment now belonged to someone else. Him and the rest of the Avengers found out after an emergency call was issued to assemble at the tower. So when they found Bucky in the main TV room on one of the common floors, no uniform, no gear, not even wearing shoes- needless to say they were confused and annoyed. The elevator pinged and Steve stepped out in full Captain America uniform, shield and all looking ready to command his team. The blonde took a moment to look and everyone (also in uniform) and as they all waited for someone to say something.

"What's the emergency?" The Captain finally asked.

"We didn't call it, you did Cap." Tony pointed out.

Then everybody looked at Bucky who was standing near the couch with his hands up defensively.

"I didn't mean to call the whole team, I thought I was only signaling to Steve's comm."

"Well?" Steve asked as if were expecting a bomb to go off.

"I got the call..." Bucky breathed out slowly.

Natasha didn't bat an eyelash but everyone else was looking at each other to make sure they weren't the only one who was completely lost.

"...and?" Steve whispered.

"We're having a baby."

The second the sentence ended the super soldier was tackling his husband with a bear-hug so intense it lifted Bucky off the ground and put Thor to shame.

"Well that explains the extra weight,Barnes. But I have so many questions." Tony spoke up.

"We got a surrogate you jackass." Buck's tone was dry but it so obviously overjoyed.

"Congratulations my friends! We must celebrate this most blessed occasion!" Thor boomed.

So from the very first minute, the impending little princess was a pretty huge deal.

A month after the announcement Natasha explained the details to him over lunch. She said that Bucky had a younger sister before he went under and Red Room had tracked her down. They extracted a fair amount of her DNA and her reproductive cells should the Winter Soldier turn on them and needed to be shut down permanently. Tony knew how hard it was for Natasha to talk about the Red Room, so he let himself be proud that she'd discuss it with him at all. She said she found the samples during a recent op for Fury at a Red Room base in Novosibirsk- safe to say that base no longer existed after Natasha was finished. Once she was back state-side she told Bucky about the samples as soon as he answered the phone. SHEILD, Dr. Banner, Dr. Pym and Reed Richards all ran independent tests along with comparative tests to samples from Bucky and Natasha. All results read the same- the samples were clean, Red Room hadn't done anything to them. Nat told him that after several long conversations Bucky and Steve decided that if they were ever going to have a chance, this was it. The surrogate herself was a SHEILD agent who'd been voluntarily pulled from active duty for the mission of carrying the most important child on Earth. Or at least that's how Tony already felt about the unborn baby girl.

In fact her nursery had been fully designed, renovated and furnished by the genius inventor himself. The parents-to-be realized early on that nothing in the universe was going to stop Tony from spoiling Captain America's daughter absolutely rotten, much to their chagrin. Ty wasn't happy about Tony "throwing money away on some brat that wasn't even theirs" but fuck it, there wasn't much left for his boyfriend to beat out of him.

That brings us to now, everyone on the team cautiously crowded around Steve and Bucky in a Brooklyn hospital waiting room to meet the newest member of their mismatched, world saving family.

Sylvia Grace Rogers-Barnes

Tony, for one was infinitely glad that no one asked who she looked liked or anything like that because she was ten minutes old. She looked like a prune.

But putting the overall "newborn" appearance aside, she was beautiful. She looked so small in Steve's arms, gripping Bucky's index finger with her tiny hand, it left an uncomfortable longing sensation in his stomach. And God he thought they looked happy on their wedding day, that was nothing compared to way they were beaming right now. It was almost too much to look at directly...like the sun.

"Hey, she's not incessantly screeching. I like this kid already." Clint grinned, pausing momentarily from the silly faces he was making at her even though she was too young to see them clearly at all.

That night in bed Tony found himself smiling the tiniest bit at the idea having someone in his life who didn't have to know what a broken mess he was. A clean slate. In a way.


	12. Chapter 12

Watching Steve and Bucky ride the downward spiral that was having a newborn at home was an endless source of hilarity for the rest of them. It's only been a week and he's already gotten several exhausted sounding calls from Steve.

"So how's my favorite 40s family today?" Tony made sure to sound extra cheery on the phone. If only to patronize his suffering best friend.

"Sylvia's not sleeping and I've been crying a lot."

Steve hung up after Tony's cackling passed the one-minute mark.

Though he still technically lived at the penthouse with Ty, Tony found himself at the Tower more and more often these days. They were all watching a football game in the main TV room for a good couple of hours before Sylvia decided that her fathers were having far too much fun and started to get fussy. That was two hours ago. Tony sat lazily on the couch with a beer as Steve and Bucky took turns trying to get their daughter to sleep. The non-stop crying baby would have annoyed anyone else right out the door but Tony much preferred this to the alternative. Bucky had dark circles under his eyes and Steve had a the pleasing beginnings of a five-o-clock shadow due to lack of time for shaving. Apparently there was only so much years of military training, KGB enhancements and a Super Soldier Serum could do.

Steve all but collapsed onto the couch next to Tony, still bouncing Sylvia in his arms.

"Tony, I really hate to ask but we've been at this for hours. Would you mind holding her for a minute?"

Oh God, no one told him he was going to have to hold her. Couldn't he just throw some money at the problem? Or build a baby rocking robot? Hey there's an idea...dammit Stark, Steve's still looking at you! Take the freaking baby!

"Um yeah, sure." He held his arms out awkwardly.

Steve placed her in his arms and her weight (or lack thereof) took him by surprise. She squirmed a little and Steve took Tony's hand- calloused and scarred from years of inventing and building- and guided it to support her head. He could start to see the resemblance now, her silken hair was this caramel brown that he'd never quite seen on anyone else, her facial features were all Bucky but her eyes, those were one thousand percent Steve's. She kicked her feet and let out a little huff before quietly staring up at him.

"Okay, yeah. You're moving in with us." Bucky said with a look of shock on his face.

"She likes you a lot." Steve said, barely more than a whisper.

Tony let his eyes wander back to Steve, who had moved just a bit closer to him. His blue eyes were oceans deep, his broad shoulders rising and falling slowly, the angles of his jaw and the curve of his soft lips- Tony never wanted to look away.


	13. Chapter 13

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes died on a Saturday at 4:07pm.

 

Not in a selfless act. Not saving thousands of lives. Not gunned down in a heroic blaze of glory. It was a motorcycle accident. That's all. It's easy to forget about mortality among Gods and mutants and Hulks but days like today made it impossible to ignore. Even men like Bucky who suffered more their fair share and still managed to find happiness. Everyone, in one way or another, will eventually and without exception, die.

For months after the funeral, when the ice crept up on him Steve would sometimes stay at Tony and Ty's penthouse while Sylvia stayed with Clint and Natasha. Steve was mostly quiet, except when he was alone with Tony. They'd talk about anything, just for the comfort of talking to someone.

Then one night, Tiberius let himself get too loud as he took Tony painfully and against his will. Tony had his face buried in a pillow to muffle his own volume when there were footsteps outside the bedroom door. Ty glanced up just in time to see the door splinter under a powerful weight and swing open, crashing into the wall loudly. Without a single word or sound Steve strode inside, grabbed Tiberius by his throat and threw him to the floor. He never looked up at Tony and Tony was thankful for that, he didn't want Steve to see him like this.

Steve had positioned himself over Ty with one leg on each side of his torso and started punching. Tony could hear the bones cracking through Tiberius' screaming, he didn't say anything to try and stop Steve. The beating went on for long after Ty fell silent. Blood stained the white carpet along with the super soldier's knuckles which were starting to split. Steve's forehead was matted in sweat, when Ty tried to roll half-consciously roll away Steve stood up kicked him several times in the spine. And when there nothing left to damage, not patch of skin that wasn't black or purple or bloody Steve finally stopped.

They both stayed like that for a while. Completely motionless. After what felt like a life time he tensed as Steve lifted him into his arms and carried him out to the couch, grabbing some pajama pants from the dresser on the way out. The Captain called 911 and asked for an ambulance, when the EMTs arrived they didn't have it in them to ask any questions they just took Ty and that was it. Leaving the two of them sitting on the couch, equally hurt and equally fractured. Steve's weeping broke the still air and his shoulders shook uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm sorry Tony I'm sorry I'm so sorry Tony... I let him hurt you for so long. I let him hurt you. But Goddamn it so did you. All I wanted was for you to leave. All I wanted was for you to see yourself as something fucking worth saving and you didn't and do you know what that fucking does to me?! Please, please, please, I'm so sorry..."

For the first time in his life Tony couldn't find his voice as Steve to sobbed into his hands.

He leaned forward and cradled the blonde's head against his chest and Steve hugged his waist. The wrapped themselves in each other until exhaustion got the better of them. When the daylight leaked into the living room Steve groaned, signaling he was awake. Tony lightly tickled the back of his neck in a vague attempt to be comforting.

"Go pack your stuff." He mumbled.

Tony rolled off the couch and did what Steve told him to.

That morning on the News they'd learn that billionaire CEO Tiberius Stone had been attacked in the night by an unknown assailant who had left him paralyzed from the waist down.


	14. Chapter 14

Steve carried Tony's things down to his car while Tony called Pepper to arrange for some SI engineers to clear out the lab and relocate everything back to Avengers Tower immediately. Because Pepper was Pepper the lab was cleared out within the hour- JARVIS and the bots too. As he walked out of the building for the last time he felt like he was almost worth something, he'd was sure that he'd forgotten what this felt like at all. He climbed into Steve brand new Volvo SUV, like really new, like Tony was almost positive this thing wasn't on the market yet new. A gift from Phil Coulson when Sylvia was born, called it a "business expense" and got SHEILD to foot the bill- it was parked in front of the hospital when they were ready to leave. Apparently, Tony already had formidable competition for Sylvie's love.

"Captain America driving a car that wasn't American made? Scandal!"

"No, this is Steve Rogers driving a car that has a high safety rating and was paid for by somebody else."

"Safety has come a long way since your day, Capsicle. What would you have even done back then? Driven with her in your lap?"

Steve bit his lip and checked the rearview mirror.

"Oh my God, what kind of insane home remedies and illusions of safety measures have you two old-timers been exposing her to?" Tony laughed but quickly stopped when Steve didn't.

Steve had his eyes firmly on the road, jaw tightened and his knuckles gripped the steering wheel so tightly they lost their color.

"Steve...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought up-"

"No, its my fault, I'm really sorry. It doesn't happen as often lately but it's just...it hurts so badly to think about how he won't be around for...any of it. First word, first steps, first day of school. Every last little thing, he's not going to be here for it."

"Steve..."

"I don't know, I'm so fucking scared Tony. I can't do this alone. I know that I'm going to screw it up- I know I'm going to screw her up. I mean, even after years of being conditioned to be emotionless Bucky still never failed to light up the room and charm everyone who saw him. Happiness, confidence and Jesus, just emotions radiated off of him. And I don't know how to do that, Tony. I don't."

Tony could tell he wasn't finished, so he did what people didn't seem to think he was capable of. He just listened.

"For as long as I can remember, even before the war I've been focused and commanding and...and so Goddamned militant! Not nurturing or gentle or loving. I'm not cut out to be a parent. I was never meant to be a father and I sure as Hell was never meant to be one alone."

Tony sat silently, concentrating very hard on what to say next. What could he even offer without being a blatant hypocrite? He pretty much resigned himself to being a piece of meat in a wildly abusive relationship until literally just a few hours ago because that's what he wholeheartedly believes he deserves. He still can't see himself as worth much if anything at all regardless of "how many lives he's saved" or "all the irreplaceable contributions he's made to mankind". Not to mention he had no idea what a half-way decent father was even supposed to look like. There were still mountains of things Tony had to work on. Demons and abuse and fear that might never completely go away. But he did eventually find the words. The one thing he needed Steve to know.

"Well it's a damn good thing you're not alone then."

He reached over and took Steve's hand from its vice-grip on the steering wheel and rested it on the center console in his own. Steve squeezed back lightly and they held hands like that for the rest of the drive.

When they got to the tower the two of them brought all of Tony's stuff up to Steve's floor. Walking inside, Bucky's absence was palpable, everything was still and the air felt heavy. Steve had taken the majority of the photographs off the walls save for one in the living room of Bucky grinning his big goofy grin and one on Steve's nightstand of Bucky holding Sylvia for the first time. A good sign was that there were still plenty of framed pictures of Thor, Bruce, Clint, Tasha and a flattering amount of Tony.

"Knock, knock." The voice startled them both.

Turning around they saw Clint standing in the doorway with Sylvia and dressed to the nines.

"I'm actually heading out to meet my smoking hot girlfriend for dinner and as much as I love my niece, bringing a 10 week old baby to a date defeats every last purpose of a date."

Tony noticed Steve's shoulders loosen and his stance open up.

"Thanks for watching her, Clint. Tell Tasha I said thanks too."

"Anything you need, Cap." Clint grinned before peaking around Steve to see Tony.

"And we're all really glad you're home, Shellhead."

"Thanks, chirp." Tony couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from tugging upwards the tiniest bit.

The proximity of additional voices caused Sylvia to stir and come out of her nap, her big blue eyes landed right on Steve and she instantly started smiling and making gurgle noises as she reached her little hands out towards him. Steve relieved the archer of his babysitting duties by taking Sylvia from him.

Steve's entire face lit up the moment he had her in his arms. It was the first time Tony's seen him smile- really honest to God smile- since the day of the accident.

"Hey, baby girl. Miss me?"

Steve whispered as he swayed his body side to side in a soothing motion, holding her against his shoulder. Sylvia cooed at him in response and Steve's smile turned into a face-splitting grin.

"Daddy missed you too." He answered, kissing the top of her head.

Right then, as he watched Steve hold his daughter, the numb, atrophied sensation Tony had gotten used to went away for a minute and was replaced by something he couldn't fully put his finger on- but it felt a lot like belonging.


	15. Interlude: Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place during chapter 13 from Steve's point of view.  
> A million thanks to the incomparable holliswrites, who wrote this   
> whole amazing chapter! We will definitely be working together  
> again very soon!

In the wake of Bucky’s death, Steve becomes unmoored.

The first few weeks are the worst, of course--denial and impotent anger and paroxysms of grief all punctuate his days, but it’s the nights that are truly the worst. It’s the long nights when Steve feels Bucky’s absence the most, when he looks at their daughter and is crushed by the weight of his sorrow and weeps far more than their sweet-natured Sylvia ever does.

After the wild grief of the first few weeks, Steve settles into a prolonged and predictable period of depression--less exhausting in the short-term, but more draining in the long term.  It gets to the point where he begins to struggle even more with sleep, often awakening to memories of cold and isolation. He had thought that he left the ice behind. 

He was wrong. 

Some nights are so bad, Steve entrusts Sylvia to the care of Natasha and Clint--and what does it say when he feels his daughter is better cared for in the hands of spies and assassins?--and turns up at Ty and Tony’s penthouse at odd hours. There, he knows he will find the familiar companionship of Tony, and the charismatic charm of Ty, if he isn’t on a business trip. The latter, Steve could do without, but the former, Steve knows, is partially what is keeping himself from drowning.

The first time Steve shows up at their penthouse, just ten days or so after they bury Bucky, Tony answers the door, and his initial welcome is less than enthusiastic. His eyes are red, and he’s clutching a tumbler of scotch, and he seems almost reluctant to open the door. But of course he does, and Steve stumbles in, and Ty appears, and Ty’s smooth manners gloss over Tony’s unease and Steve’s descent into tears.

On the nights when Ty is around, they try to feed Steve, and the three men make awkward, subdued conversation until Tony and Ty head to bed, and Steve wanders around the common areas, often spending hours gazing out at the brilliant cityscape. But on the nights when Ty is gone, Tony and Steve gravitate towards Tony’s lab, where Tony tinkers and drinks too much and scolds his bots and plays loud music while Steve watches him work. Sometimes they will talk, other times Steve lapses into a brooding unhappiness that Tony can’t touch and knows better than to try to. Tony respects Steve’s grief, and Steve accepts Tony’s reticence about many things, from Ty’s absences to Tony’s strange habit of locking the door behind him no matter what room he enters, to the bruises that sometimes appear on Tony’s body, to the slow and painful way in which Tony sometimes walks. Right now, during this time, Steve doesn’t question much--he simply allows himself to feel safe.

It doesn’t occur to him, then, that maybe Tony feels safe during this time, too.

And it also doesn’t occur to him that Ty is exacting a very high payment from Tony for Steve’s presence in their home

That’s how unmoored Steve is, how lost he has become: He is taking refuge in the home of his former lover, who is the most broken and self-loathing person Steve has ever encountered, and his former lover’s current partner, a man that Steve knows is twisted and troubled and possibly dangerous and cruel. And yet here Steve is, availing himself to their hospitality. In his more honest moments, he knows that his mere presence here is something of a tacit endorsement for whatever dysfunctional thing that Tony and Ty are involved in. But those moments do not happen often, for Steve is still mostly blinded by his own grief. 

But Steve is, at heart, a brave and strong person, and as the weeks pass, and as the ice tries to settle around his heart, he tries to find comfort where he can. In Sylvia’s sweet nature, in Tony’s undemanding chatter, in the companionship of his fellow Avengers, in his own memories of the too-brief time he and Bucky had together, there are rays of sunlight that keep his heart from freezing completely over. 

This is what he is thinking about one evening as he is laying down in his bedroom--even Ty refers to it as his bedroom now--in what Tony now calls his “second home.” The crushing ache in his soul has dulled a little bit, and Steve finds himself marveling a little at this--time, which has been for so long his enemy, the thing that has tormented him, is now a kind friend, maybe gentling him along to recovery. It’s a comforting thought. He’s still completely at sea, but he can sense that he’s finally trying to swim again. 

But he’s still not sleeping well. Glancing at the clock on the bedstand, Steve sees that it’s a little after midnight, but he’s nowhere near close enough to fall asleep. He had gone to bed a little after 8, because he knew Ty was flying in that evening, and he wasn’t up for Ty’s company tonight. So Steve had tried to sleep, but instead he lays awake for hours, listening to Tony’s voice greeting Ty as he comes home, and then Ty’s voice in response, and then their footsteps as they head up the stairs to their room. Hours pass, but sleep still doesn’t come.

So he heads out to the kitchen, where he’ll warm some milk. It probably won’t help him sleep at all, but the soothing actions may help. 

“Throw some whiskey in it,” had been Ty’s response when he once had seen Steve preparing the drink. “We just picked up an excellent bottle of Glenmorangie.” Sounding for all the world as though he and Tony were simply any happy couple, solicitously hosting their broken friend. Sometimes, as Steve reaches desperately for stability, he can almost let himself believe it.

It’s as Steve is remembering this that he hears something--a muffled thump coming from the floor above him. Shortly thereafter, he hears something--something like a loud, harsh laugh, followed by a cry, quickly strangled. Then, several more thumps, and a crash.

Steve frowns and cocks his head, listening closely, but doesn’t hear anything else. Against his better judgment, he resumes his routine, but his movements are arrested a moment later when another noise, even louder, makes him go still. There’s no doubt, it’s Ty’s voice, raised to almost a shouting level--much, much louder than Steve’s ever heard him before. It occurs to Steve that perhaps Ty doesn’t know that he’s here.

 

Scarcely aware that he’s doing it, Steve begins moving towards the staircase. He finds himself filled with a strange mixture of feelings--dread, and suspicion, and the very beginnings of anger. “JARVIS?”

“Captain Rogers.” Is it his imagination, or does the AI sound relieved?

“Is Tony okay?”

The answer is immediate. “He has programmed me to be unable to reveal to others when he is in distress.”

That’s the only answer Steve needs. He moves more quickly up the stairs, and with each step Ty’s voice becomes more distinct. Steve can hear him clearly, and wishes he couldn’t.

“This is the only way to have you, you fucked-out little slut. When you figure out all over again no one will touch you anymore--not your little CEO or your precious captain, either. No one wants to get near a mess like you. That’s how I know you’ll take what I give you--” a pause, and Steve swallows, wondering at the reason for it “--because you know no one else wants to give you anything. I’m all you’ll get, and--oh fuck--it’s still more than you deserve--”

Steve is in front of their closed door, and his hand is gripping the door frame so tightly, the wood is beginning to splinter. His breath is coming fast and heavy, and he’s getting nauseous as certain things begin to click together in his mind. He’s known almost since the beginning that Ty hurts Tony, but this--he had never imagined--

There’s another sound, perhaps the slamming of a headboard against the wall, coupled with the harsh slapping of flesh, and then punctuated by a whimper, almost too soft and stifled to hear.

But Steve’s hearing picks it up without a problem, and he knows it’s Tony, and he knows that Tony is in pain--

Only certain portions of the next few minutes remain clear in Steve’s mind. He remembers the sound of the door crashing into the wall, he remembers the sight of Tony’s head, forced down into a pillow, he remembers the sight of abused flesh that he had, himself, once loved and worshiped. He remembers not being able to look at Tony at all for a long time after this. He doesn’t remember much about Ty--not his expression, or whether he said anything, or tried to struggle. He remembers the surge of adrenaline powering him with extra savagery as he becomes more and more blinded to anything but the need to destroy Tiberius Stone as he has tried to destroy Tony. Nothing exists for Steve but the mission, and the mission is to keep Tony safe forever.

Later, Steve will wonder if it’s possible he continued attacking Ty for so long because it was a way to avoid turning back to Tony and confronting the damaged man. Ty is a problem that Steve could fix, and did. Tony is something else entirely.

 

But eventually, he has done all the damage he could do, and Steve stops. He stares at the crippled, bloodied form of Tiberius and prays that the man would never love Tony, or persecute him, ever again. And then he turns back to Tony, because Steve’s mission isn’t done, not by a long shot.

As he gathers Tony into his arms, he feels the smaller man flinch--whether from actual pain or a by-now-instinctive fear, Steve doesn’t know, but either way, the anger begins to surge up within Steve again. Mastering it, Steve murmurs some gentle, wordless noises into Tony’s ear and starts to head out of the bedroom. A thought occurs to him, and he manages to snag a pair of pajama bottoms out of the dresser as he heads out, hopefully leaving the scene of this bedroom behind forever. 

With great care, he settles Tony onto the couch downstairs, and then helps Tony pull on the pajama pants. As soon as they’ve accomplished this, Steve reluctantly calls 911 and summons the EMTs. Since it’s Tony Stark’s address, the ambulance is here in no time, and the two men don’t say a word as they wait. They remain silent as the EMTs arrive and load up Ty and take him away, and they don’t even wonder aloud why no one is bothering to question them.

And soon enough, it’s just Steve and Tony again, with nothing to distract them from a vast field of pain and lies and secrets between them. It’s the knowledge of Tony’s secrets and alienation which ultimately break Steve down, and Steve allows himself to feel the shame and anger that have been at war inside him for longer than he cares to remember. The tears come, and the crying is harsh and painful, but necessary.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm sorry Tony I'm sorry I'm so sorry Tony... I let him hurt you for so long. I let him hurt you Goddamn it so did you. All I wanted was for you to leave. All I wanted was for you to see yourself as something fucking worth saving and you didn't and do you know what that fucking does to me?! Please, please, please, I'm so sorry..."

After a moment, he feels Tony moving closer, leaning into him and pulling him into his chest. It’s closer than they’ve been in a while, and Tony’s scent is the same as he remembers it, and it’s this familiar scent that prompts Steve to wrap his arms around Tony’s waist, anchoring them both to each other. Even as he feels ashamed of his own weakness--shouldn’t he be comforting Tony?--he allows himself the benediction of Tony’s touch.

They fall asleep like that, holding on to each other, offering a chaste comfort and protection from whatever is maybe coming next. And when Steve awakens, for the first time in weeks, he has a plan, a purpose. It’s time for him to bring Tony to where he belongs--time to bring Tony home.


	16. Chapter 16

"What the _Hell_ is Ferberizing?"

Steve was normally a very patient man but right now Tony Stark was standing directly in between him and his little girl. He'd gotten out of bed before anyone else and had taken the chance to go down to the gym before Sylvia woke up. When he came back she was crying her little eyes out just over Tony's shoulder and Tony wouldn't _move_.

"'Ferberizing' is teaching her to soothe herself. To be less dependent on you."

"She can't even lift her own head up, Tony! She's supposed to be dependent on me!"

"You can't run in there and pick her up every single time she cries."

"Keep your new age hippie parenting away from my child, you heathen." Steve jabbed a finger at him and Tony simply could not keep up a straight face anymore.

He started cracking up as he stepped aside to let Steve through. Of course he would never let the little girl be unhappy as long as he was still breathing. He just happened to hear Sylvia waking up at the same time JARVIS told him that Steve was in the elevator. There was an opportunity and he seized it! Honestly, the baby was crying for no more than a minute and she was perfectly content now that someone picked her up.

"You should have seen your face! And did you really just call me a heathen?"

"Very funny, I can't even contain my laughter right now." Steve said dryly as he looked at Tony thoroughly unamused.

"Well, I have to catch you up on all the child-rearing fads you missed when you were an ice-cube." Tony wasn't even trying to hide the shit-eating grin on his face.

Sylvia reached out her hand and patted Steve's chest, something she'd started doing when she wanted his attention.

"Oh man, Spangles...and you somehow thought you weren't going to the best parent who ever parented. God, its so cute when you're wrong." Tony smirked as they walked to the kitchen.

Tony also took the liberty of noticing that Steve was blushing. Not salmon, not pink, not magenta. Red. Obvious, adorable, Iron Man suit red. It was great. The two men sat at the kitchen table enjoying their respective bowls of gourmet Cheerios, flown in directly from...wherever the Hell Cheerios are made. Tony fed Sylvia who was being especially picky about her bottle this morning while Steve made them both coffee.

_"Sirs, the others are requesting that you turn on your television."_

"Bah!" Sylvia responded to the voice in the ceiling.

_"Good morning to you as well young miss Sylvia."_

JARVIS already had a soft spot for the infant and the two of them were quickly becoming friends.

Setting his coffee mug down, Steve sighed before speaking.

"If its another AARP, nursing home or LifeAlert commercial, I'm punching Clint in the face."

_"I believe this particular program does require your attention Captain."_

JARVIS replied as he turned on the TV in the living room.

Tony's breath hitched when he heard the voice in the other room.

"I just don't know why this is all happening..."

Steve recognized it in the same moment and the three of them were on the couch in record time. On the screen was Tiberius Stone being interviewed on Good Morning America.

"Oh no..." Tony whispered, his stomach dropping.

"Oh no? What oh no?" Steve asked taking his daughter from the distressed man next to him.

"Ty's company owns almost every major media outlet in the country..."

Steve's lips pursed before he turned back to the TV.

"So are you telling us that Tony Stark left you immediately following the paralysis?"

"Sadly yes, Robin. Tony is an amazing man but he doesn't possess the emotional ability to care for someone who's endured a life-altering trauma like this."

"Looking at Tony Stark's history it hardly seems like he has the emotional ability to even care for himself." added Robin. That bitch.

"I wish I could disagree."

Tiberius made a point to draw attention to his victimization and Tony knew better than anyone that it would work.

"Before you came on today, Tiberius, you told our producers that you knew the identity of your assailant the moment you came to in the hospital."

"I know who put me in this wheelchair, Robin. Beyond the shadow of a doubt."

"And who was it?"

"Captain America."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short! The next one will be up by tomorrow afternoon :)


	17. Chapter 17

"I've got Pep conferencing with my PR team and Phil is on his way over here now." Tony had not yet moved from where he sat on the couch, but he was going a mile a minute as he pulled up his holographic screens around him and talked nonstop into his STARK phone, pausing only long enough to toss an occasional order to his AI. "JARVIS, eliminate any and all footage of Steve in the old penthouse on the night in question."

_"Already ahead of you sir."_

Steve’s ominous silence was brought Tony’s attention back to the soldier. "How's it looking outside, Cap?"

"The press is starting to starting to swarm but they aren't trying to climb the walls...yet."

It had only been a few hours since Tiberius announced to the entire country on national TV that Steve was the one who put him in a wheelchair, and all Hell was already starting to break loose. The Avengers got their fair share of bad press- Tony more than most- but this story could prove to be very bad for them. Captain America assaulting an "innocent" civilian in the dead of night was shocking to the public, to say the least. The talking heads on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and everywhere else started raising questions about Cap’s mental stability and ability to lead the team, and conjecturing about whether Bucky's death had possibly driven him mad. The speculation and theories were endless and each one was more ridiculous that the one before it.

What was perhaps the most upsetting was the media’s questioning of Steve’s character. He tried so very hard to be a good person, the type of person Erskine had expected him to be, and it hurt Steve when people saw him as failing to hit that ideal. And it hurt Tony to see Steve hurt like this.

"Don't worry about it, Steve, my people know how to handle this stuff and SHIELD won't stand for any Cap-bashing...especially Phil."

"Normally I might agree with you, Tony. But this time...it's true. I did attack a civ. I let my emotions take over- the one thing a soldier knows not to do- I didn't even think, I just started punching until I physically couldn't anymore. I completely lost control."

"You're saying that like you beat up the guy because he was eying you funny. You had every reason to do what you did…you saved my life, Steve."

Steve shook his head, still looking down at the street below. "Maybe I should take a break from the team for a while."

"Oh God, Steve don't start." Natasha's voice broke through the tension as she let herself into the apartment. She took= Sylvia from Steve without asking and started bouncing her on her hip and speaking sweetly to her in Russian. It was a calculated move, and a successful one, drawing Steve’s attention back towards his daughter. He half-smiled at the redhead with nothing but trust in his eyes. 

"Agent Romanov is right, Captain. Don't get worked up over this." Coulson added as he came in, with Clint following closely behind.

"Oh no, yeah, come on in, guys. We're not still in our pajamas or anything." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Stark, you're the only one here who isn't dressed yet." Clint so helpfully pointed out.

"So what's the damage, Phil?" Steve wasted no time in focusing back on the problem at hand.

“We’ve been hard at work, Captain. Managed to put the police and the DA off, citing BS about security and military justice. At this point, it’s looking like you won’t be arrested—at least not now-- but there will be a hearing to assess allegations, motives, etc. Stone’s legal team is already screaming about bias, claiming the need for transparency.”

“He’s going to make sure the hearings get televised.” Tony’s voice was flat, not revealing any of his thoughts. He felt, rather than saw, Steve’s look over at him. Not even Steve knew the full gory details and extent of his fucked-up relationship with Ty…and now everyone in America would know.

“Based on the results of the hearing, the judge will rule on whether the Cap will be charged with assault, attempted voluntary man-slaughter..." Phil paused, and that was something he never does. "And child-endangerment."

"What?" Steve's head snapped up so fast it looked painful.

"It’s a long shot but Tiberius' lawyers believe they have grounds to charge you with child-endangerment. Current mental and emotional instability impeding care of an infant, severe PSTD resulting in hallucinations, violent or unpredictable outbursts that could cause unintentional harm to a child under your care..." Phil rattled off the terms that the attorneys had spent the last few hours pouring into his ears. 

"That's all just bullshit! Steve, honestly you have nothing to worry about!" Clint tried to comfort Steve, or maybe himself, but the soldier was far beyond these hollow words.

"When is the hearing?”

"Steve, you should give yourself some time before-" Coulson tried to diffuse the tension in the room.

"When is the Goddamn hearing?”

"...It's set for this coming Wednesday. Your legal team is already hard at work. They’ll be interviewing you soon—and Tony, too.”

"Yeah. Right. Thank you, all of you." Steve's eyes were focused on the floor; clearly he wanted to be left alone with his unhappiness. Sensing this, Coulson and Clint slipped quietly out of the apartment, and Natasha followed soon after. Before she did, however, she encroached into Tony's personal space to transfer Sylvia into his waiting arms and give one curt order. “Fix this.”

"I will," Tony stated fervently before pressing a kiss into Sylvie's hair.

That night Tony was woken up by the call of nature and shuffled his way off the couch and down the hallway to the bathroom. He peed quietly, washed his hands quietly and left the bathroom quietly because God help him if he woke up the baby. Passing Steve's room, he stopped suddenly, arrested by a heart-wrenching sound. Tony gently tapped the door open. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw Steve gripping the sheets so tight he thought they'd rip. A tortured panting fought its way out of the blonde man's chest, draining the oxygen from his lungs with each passing second, until he shot up with his blue eyes wide open and filled with tears. It took a millisecond before he whipped his head to the doorway where he sensed Tony standing. Tony couldn't begin to piece together the look on the face of the man he still loved so deeply.

“Tony!” He rasped breathlessly in a way that startled Tony.

“Steve! I'm sorry, I didn't...I wasn't- I'll just-” Great, now Steve probably thought that Tony watched him sleep.

“Please don't go. Please don’t leave. Please.” If Steve’s pleas weren’t enough, the desperate, haunted look in his eyes made Tony stay.

The dark-haired man made his way to the bed where Steve sat with tears streaming down his pure, unlined face and his golden hair sticking up at odd angles. Tony lifted a hand to the other man's cheek and his breath hitched a little when Steve leaned into the touch.

“I don't know what I'm supposed to do,” Steve finally mumbled.

“That's exactly your problem, Rogers.”

Steve gave him a confused glance.

“You always thinking there's something you're supposed to do. Like if you think about the problem hard enough or throw your shield at it just right or if you can come up with some 75-page battle plan that it'll all be fixed. You're probably the most impatient person on the planet, living or dead. But not everything has a black-or-white answer, Steve. And as much as you want to, you can't always fix every problem the moment you want it to be fixed and you can't convince yourself to do it alone either.”

Steve just kept his eyes locked onto Tony's as he listened to this logic.

“Just because you're Captain America doesn't mean you can have all the answers. I'm not going to let you high-tail it into military mode this time and shut everybody out so you can make your patented rash, self-sacrificing decisions. Because you aren't the only who gets a say in this. Me and Sylvie, we need you! I....I can't live without you, Steve. Don't make me, because I can't. Not again. Not any more.”

Tony pursed his lips, waiting for Steve to realize he has no right talking about them like they're his family. But he doesn't. Instead he grabs Tony and kisses him- hard and warm and loving, with literally years of hunger in it. Tony's hand find their way to the sides of Steve's face as if to hold him there before this moment disappeared. Their bodies pressed into one another as their molten make-out session slowed to kissing which eventually slowed into a tight and comforting that ended in the best sleep either of them had had in a very long time.


	18. Chapter 18

Tony woke up to the familiarity of an empty bed but was surprised him was the the hastily written note on Steve's pillow.

_Went down to the gym. Made coffee and fed Sylvia before I left._

The soft smile that played on Tony's lips lasted as he stretched out and stayed in bed a few extra minutes. The inventor made his way down the hall and was surprised by the tiny noise that came from the nursery as he walked by. He turned his head to see Sylvia lying in her crib looking right at him and smiling, she recognized him and wanted his attention, she saw him as an important part of her life like Steve. Now, Tony Stark has built advanced armor that can blow up tanks and fly, he's saved the world countless times, he had more money that he'd ever know what to do with and everybody knew who he was. Not one of those things was a cool as what just happened.

On the couch, Tony had Sylvia in his lap so his abdomen would support her without him having to make a conscious effort. Turning on the TV Tony was greeted by various collages of

Captain America emblazoned across the screen with words like "scandal" and "theories" being thrown around by senior correspondents of bullshit. Deciding it much too early to deal with this he flips over to Max & Ruby not because he has any particular emotional investment in the show but because it was Sylvia's favorite. Safe to say she has no idea what's even going on with the show so Tony has a feeling its the rabbits she likes.

"Sleepy already, kiddo?" Tony mused as he noticed her eyelids dropping.

He shifted himself so he was laying on the couch with Sylvia on his chest with her head next to the arc reactor- Steve had told him how much she likes the hum of it. Tony took the opportunity to rest his eyes for a minute, its been a while since he could take a nap without being on constant vigilance for Tiberius' mood.

Steve was starting to unwrap his hands when Natasha approached him after their usual morning workout together, she had a look on her face that already had Steve itching to retreat while he still had all his limbs.

"Steve."

"Hm?"

"You've been acting like you killed someone and then hid the body in your garage."

"That was...specific."

"What's wrong?"

Steve chewed his lip and stared at her for a long minute trying to decide what if anything to tell her about last night. He wasn't exactly proud of it.

"I um, me and Tony we- I think-"

"Timid doesn't look good on you, Rogers." Her eyes hardened, she wasn't going to drop this.

"I kissed Tony last night." Steve couldn't even make himself look his friend.

"And now you feel like you've betrayed James."

He slowly lifted his eyes to meet Natasha's and where he was expecting anger he saw warmth. A pitiful little nod was the best he could do to answer that statement.

"You know, when I met James he lived believing that you had been dead for years. And continued to do so for many more after. What you're going through is what he went through too. Then finally he made the choice to keep living, he had committed himself to misery for so long and it took him a long time to realize that. And you know what he did?"

Steve couldn't form the words so he just kept staring dumbly.

"He let himself move forward and he met me. Not under the most desirable conditions mind you but he stopped living as a ghost and he fell in love again. His wounds started to heal and he was finally mending back together after so long. You can love more than one person without loving the first any less, Steve. I know without a doubt that James would be furious at you for stopping in your tracks like you have, for refusing to be happy. You meant more than anything else in the world to him and still do, he didn't spent a lifetime protecting you and sacrificing for you to just give up. You can't die with him Steve- he'd never forgive you for it."

She ran her hand down his jawline in a comforting motion that made him feel like a little boy.

He smiled and could see Bucky in head- teasing him for being insane enough to be so self-sacrificing and miserable by choice. Like when they were young and he'd gladly take a beating. The thought of Bucky still left an aching in his chest and probably always would, but for the first time it felt like the wound wasn't still spilling blood into him, like the scar tissue was finally starting to form on an invisible wound. Just for a second Steve let himself believe it would always hurt this bad and he wasn't past being fixed. Bucky never gave up on him and it felt like an insult to his husband to give up on himself now. Bucky really wouldn't ever forgive him for accepting defeat so easily and Steve never could take Bucky being sore at him.

After hugging Natasha tightly and kissing her cheek Steve took the elevator up to his floor. The doors slid open and what he walked in had to have been divinely created because there was no other explanation for the joy blooming inside him that chased away the ice and the pain and left misty eyes in their wake the moment he saw it. Tony was ungracefully sprawled out on the couch, dead asleep with Sylvia also zonked out on his chest.

The next day there would be more than only one framed picture on Steve's nightstand.


	19. Chapter 19

Tony really has no idea what happened but he woke up from a nap and his head was resting in Steve's lap, tilting his head up he saw Steve watching him and smiling. There was something his face, the way he held his jaw and the fact the crease between his eyebrows wasn't there- disproving Tony's theory that it was permanent. The man so guarded that fate itself bestowed him an indestructible shield had let his guard. In these lingering moments in the stillness of late afternoon Tony was more comfortable than he thought himself capable. Holding his tiny, fragile, squirmy pride and joy in one arm while he ran his fingers through Tony's hair with the other, Steve gave him a lazy smile. 

“Mr. Stark.”

“Captain.” 

Their smiles grew a little.

“I can't ignore it forever can I?” Steve half groaned as he motioned to the TV remote.

“As a professional in the field of ignoring responsibility I can confidently say this one might not let you.”

Steve pointed the remote at the TV and visibly winced as he turned it on. Sure enough there was some perfectly polished Fox News woman condemning the character of a man, a widower and father without ever bothering to have met him. 

_“Sources are indicating that Captain America aka Steve Rogers who used to be Steve Rogers-Barnes is already seeing someone new. Fellow Avenger and team mate Tony Stark, who also happens to be the now ex-partner of Tiberius Stone whom Captain Rogers brutally paralyzed with his bare hands. Its open to speculation exactly how long Steve Rogers' affair with his teammate has been going on but I'm willing to bet he didn't wait until after the funeral. As an American who stands proudly for the sanctity of marriage and traditional families, I for one am heartbroken for the baby girl that has now been confirmed as the infant daughter of Captain America and his now deceased husband The Winter Soldier. This photo was snapped early yesterday morning...”_

Steve and Tony both stared in horror at the image took up the whole screen, a candid photo of Steve jogging with a stroller followed by another photo taken a few minutes later of Steve taking a break and lifting Sylvia out of the stroller, giving the photographer an unmistakably clear shot of Dad and baby. 

The anchorwoman reappeared shaking her head.

_“We can only hope that someone close to them can get this innocent child safely away from this bizarre love triangle and more importantly away from the Captain and his violent unpredictable tailspin.”_

Tony could feel Steve shaking besides him and he could practically taste the rage spilling off of the usually composed soldier. 

“Steve-”

“They're saying that I cheated on my husband....they're saying that I cheated on my _dead_ husband! Like Bucky didn't mean shit to me! Like I just go whoring around, mercilessly beating innocent people and neglecting my daughter!!

Tony had never heard Steve yelling like this. 

“They have picture of her, Tony! They know what my baby looks like and they put her on TV for the fucking word to see!!” 

Fearing for Sylvia's little ears Tony took her from Steve's arms. Sylvia had most certainly noticed her father distress and was staring to hiccup- a sign that full blown bawling wasn't far behind. 

“Steve!”

He was seeing red as he continued to radiate anger.

“STEVE!!”

“What?!” The blond snapped.

“You're scaring her.”

And that was all it took. Steve's body unraveled into defeat and his eyes brimmed with guilt. Being careful to not make any sound, Steve took Sylvia back from Tony and held her closer than usual, pressing kisses into her silky hair, apologizing and murmuring his love for her quietly. The brunette could only stand and watch Steve's back retreat slowly to Sylvia's room and Tony knew that Steve didn't want to be followed yet.

Tony ended up going down to his lab to give Steve some time alone before wandering back up to their floor. It was dark out now as he cautiously leaned on the door-frame of the nursery. Peering inside he saw Sylvia asleep in Steve's arms who was absentmindedly using his foot to gently sway the rocking chair back and forth. Tony was surprised to say the least as he hadn't seen Steve look so at ease in a long long time. Slouched comfortably the rocking chair with his other leg on the ottoman, entirely absorbed in Sylvie's light breathing and her angelic face absent of worry, fear, guilt and all the other things that wore Steve, Tony and so many of their friends down. 

Tony noticed a frame on the wall above the baby's crib that he'd never paid any attention to, but now it looked like the room's most prominent feature and he was shocked this was the first time he actually noticed it. It was Bucky's dog tags with his wedding ring hanging on the chain with them.

“I want her to always know that he's watching over her.” Steve said, knowing what Tony was looking at.

Tony couldn't stop himself from wondering where Steve kept his ring as he no longer could bear wearing it.

“She's so much like him.” Steve said softly after several minutes without looking away from Sylvia.

“She's so much like you too.” Tony answered.

Steve was quiet for a few minutes after that before speaking up again.

“Y'know before she was born I was so terrified. I was afraid she would be like I was before the serum, sick all the time and too weak to go play with her friends. I was afraid to hold her because I was convinced that I'd drop her or crush her or something. Bucky was the first to hold her in the delivery room, he was always a lot braver than me.”

Tony just gave a small smile.

“I never told anyone this but after we brought her home she was so quiet that I thought something was wrong. That first night when Bucky was asleep I couldn't even help myself, I had to get up and check on her. But I still didn't trust myself to pick her up without anyone else around. I looked into the bassinet and she was pale as ghost, her lips were this haunting bluish purple color. I swear to God I've never been more scared in my entire life. Without even thinking I picked her up and started clapping her back like a lunatic, she was so freezing cold and I couldn't stop screaming for Bucky to call 911. God, she was so cold. But then suddenly just as Buck finished dialing the paramedics she started coughing and her eyes finally opened. She coughed some more and her color came back she took a few breathes and started wailing. I could hear Bucky behind me, he was crying and mumbling “Thank God, thank God, Steve you saved her. Thank God you saved her.” We still went to the Emergency Room right away, of course. Doctor said it was a sore throat from a bug she probably picked up before we ever even brought her home and it made her throat swell and close off her airway. They gave us some antibiotics and nothing like that ever happened again. But that night I realized that I would never be able to live my life without her. I cant....If they take her away I don't know what I'll do or if I'll even be able to keep going at all.”

“You sound just like Bucky.” Tony mused, making Steve look up at him.

“He took care of you every single time you got sick and from what I've heard you were never too far from death's door either. He protected you from every asshole who you picked a fight with and smiled while he did it. Now you know how he always must have felt before you went into that super-hero Easy Bake Oven. Now it's your turn, Steve.”

Steve didn't move a muscle.

“Sylvia's the one who needs to be protected and taken care of now and you're the only one in the world who can do it. And he's watching over both of you you know. Bucky wasn't dumb, not even a little bit, he would never leave you with something you couldn’t handle. Bucky left you the most precious and important thing he ever did with his life and you owe it to Buck to prove him right to everyone who doesn't think you can do this. Court is the day after tomorrow so put Sylvie to bed and if you aren't in our room in 2 minutes I'm coming for you in the suit.”

A soldier always follows orders. No more than four minutes later Tony was kissing the blond up his neck and jawline. Steve started kissing Tony back passionately and with a criminal amount of heat. The two of them groped and clawed at each other like a couple of shameless teenagers, speeding up pace and finding rhythm. Tony abruptly broke away leaving Steve looking confused and a little offended.

“We're going out tomorrow. You and me and Sylvia, we'll go to lunch and take her to the park and you can freak out about whether you're putting enough sunscreen on her and whatever other family shit we can think of.” Tony eyes had that spark of ambition they got whenever he started thinking up a new crazy idea. 

“The paparazzi-”

“Fuck the paparazzi! Sylvia is a thousand times cuter than Suri Cruise or any one of Brangelina's twenty kids! She'll be with Daddy Cap and Iron Man, she couldn't be safer! Not to mention Uncle Thor is way more than enthusiastic about playing bodyguard to his favorite mini Midgaurdian.”

Steve sat there thinking for a moment before sighing, he was a tactical genius and he knew there was no way Tony would be taking no for an answer here.

“Alright fine. We'll get up early tomorrow and go out for the day but I'm not going to tolerate any tantrum throwing.” Steve said firmly.

“Steve, Sylvia's gonna love it, she hardly ever has a meltdown!”

“I wasn't talking about Sylvie.”


	20. Chapter 20

Tony did not forget his promise—for the sake of all of their sanity, they needed a day out. So the next morning, after over an hour of trying to get an 11-week-old-baby and Tony Stark ready for a day out, they finally left the Tower. Steve pushed the stroller—empty save for the diaper bag and what Tony suspected was an emergency survival pack-while Tony bore Sylvia against his chest in the baby carrier. Both Steve and Tony had made sure to dress as casually as possible, and both had donned sunglasses to avoid being recognized.

For a long while, the three of them simply walked around their part off the city, until they started to get hungry. They ducked into a nice restaurant that they had been walking past and enjoyed a lunch that went surprisingly smoothly, with very few people who recognized them. Only one waitress—not their own—ambled past their table to secretly take a picture of the three of them with her phone. Tony, in one of his more characteristic bouts of genius, had pocketed a cell phone jammer before leaving the Tower, and the look on the waitress's face was quite gratifying. Tony was sure that several people in the restaurant recognized them, but thankfully they were courteous enough to leave them be.

Next, they went to Central Park and found a nice area to sit in the grass and let Sylvie watch all the happenings of the park on a warm sunny day. Not that he didn't suspect it before, but Tony also received all the confirmation he needed to know that Steve was one of those parents who took tons of pictures of his kid, even when she wasn't doing anything particularly interesting.

When he wasn't documenting her every moment for posterity, Steve laid on his back and lifted Sylvie up and down. As he did, she tried to put grab at his face whenever she came down close enough, only to be lifted up in the air again, making her giggle like a lunatic. And if Tony filmed the scene on his phone, and wasted no time in sending it to all their friends, and Pepper and Rhodey too, well, Steve didn't necessarily have to know about that right now.

Unfortunately he wasn't the only one capturing the moment and the vultures had apparently landed, Tony saw the glimpse of a camera flash going off in the corner of his eye.

"We gotta go," Tony declared, standing up abruptly.

Steve knew by the tone of Tony's voice what he meant and followed suit. While Steve gathered their belongings, Tony secured Sylvia back into her carrier, and then they started back the way they came. Of course, when they moved, so did the photographer and it turned out there was more than one. When they hit the street again, several others were there waiting with tape recorders for comments and cameras taking pictures and video.

Tony had long ago grown accustomed to life in the limelight, and could dive straight into a literal sea of media leeches, but Steve, on the other hand, had a long way to go before he could take the media attention in stride. Tony could tell that Steve was both very intimidated and very annoyed—a volatile combination. The pair of them shouldered their way through at a painfully slow pace, ignoring the questions being thrown at them.

_"Mr. Stark! Is it true that you're currently seeing both Tiberius Stone and Captain America?"_

_"Cap! Cap! Let's see your beautiful baby girl!"_

_"Would Bucky approve of you dating so soon, Captain?"_

_"Do the other Avengers know how long you've been sleeping together?"_

_"Hey, Iron Homewrecker! Give us a smile!"_

_"Captain America, why didn't you make your husband wear a helmet that day?"_

_"Over here! Cap! Iron Man! What's the baby's name? Give us a look at her!"_

Steve kept his eyes trained ahead and held his face as strong and blank as his years of military service would allow. Tony looked forward, too, and felt Steve's reassuring hand placed on the small of Tony's back, keeping them moving. As they attempted to ignore the reporters, Tony tipped off SHIELD on his phone, and sure enough there was a car waiting at the other side of the mob. Steve opened the door to let Tony and Sylvia get in first, using his body to block anyone's view of them.

Once inside the soothing quiet of the vehicle, the two men looked at each other, dismayed by the chaotic turn their day out had taken.

Tony spoke first, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did. "We have to do an interview or it'll only get worse."

"I know. It also wouldn't hurt my pride to let Ty know that I'm not hiding from him," Steve agreed quickly. "Bastard's been a bully long enough."

"Don't go picking fights, you insane psychopath." Tony smirked.

"I have no problem beating up a guy in a wheelchair. Ask Professor X sometime."

Tony burst out laughing. "Hey, Cap made a funny!"

Steve grinned at him, a little bit proud, but with his tactician's brain, he steered the conversation back on track. "So how do we go about this?"

"I'll call Good Morning America…we should get on the same show that Tiberius did for

leverage."

"Leverage?"

"Yeah, just because he owns the outlets doesn't mean he can own the public's opinion too. He had his turn, so now it's time for ours."

Three days later it was all set up and ready to go, Steve and Tony were about to go together onto some celebrity news show and give the people a little bit of what they wanted. Hopefully, it would turn the tide of public opinion, but more importantly, it would get the reporters to back off a little.

Steve took a deep breath that hefted his broad shoulders. Tony took his hand and confidently led them both on set and in front of the nation. As soon as they came into view the people in the studio lost their shit. Tony flashed his completely trademark, vacant smile, gladly waved and bowed, and did all sorts of other exaggerated Tony-like things before taking his seat on the couch and pulling Steve down beside him.. The interviewer, Lara Dover, sat across from them in her own comfortable chair, looking as professionally relaxed as an interviewer could.

"Welcome back! I'm Lara Dover and with us today we have world renowned super-heroes, Avengers, and icons- Iron Man: Tony Stark and Captain America: Steve Rogers. So tell me, gentleman, there have been a lot of rumors flying around about you two this past week…are you in fact together? An item?"

"Yes." Steve's answer was immediate and steadfast. He was aware of Tony's gaze snapping into his direction, his dark eyes burning brightly.

Lara didn't miss this. "Is this news to you, Mr. Stark?"

"I…" For once, Tony was at a loss for words. "It wasn't something that we had discussed, really. Steve's been a very good friend to me..." he faltered as he felt Steve looking at him steadily, his face open and sincere, his blue eyes glowing with hope. "Steve saved me," Tony said finally. "He got me out of a very bad place, and he's here with me now, trying to help me come to a good place. So yes, we are together."

Steve spoke up. "And no, this isn't a self-destructive rebound relationship or gold-digging or a quick fling or a booty call or a hit and quit or anything else of the sort." He finished his statement adamantly, leaving Lara rather flustered. Where did Cap acquire a working knowledge of 21st century sex slang? An unholy combination of Tony, Bucky and Clint, that's where. "And if making a declaration of my intentions on national television is what it takes to open Tony's eyes, so be it."

"Judging by the slightly shell-shocked look on Tony's face, I'd say his eyes are wide open now," Lara chuckled, but then turned serious again. "Uh-ahem, many people are talking about the relatively brief amount of time between the start of this relationship and the tragic death of your husband James 'Bucky' Barnes."

Now that the focus had turned back to Steve, Tony found his voice and spoke up with more emphasis. "If any of these people knew even the first thing about Steve and Bucky or their love for each other, they'd know that the happiness and well-being of Steve and their daughter was the single most important to Bucky Barnes. Neither Steve nor I believe that Bucky would object to this relationship in the slightest. If anything, he's up there wanting in on the action."

He felt Steve squeeze his hand and he could feel the gratitude traveling through his fingertips as the audience chuckled appreciatively.

Lara continued, keeping her voice gentle. "I have no doubts that his passing has been extremely hard on you, Captain Rogers. You have our deepest condolences and I won't spend another moment making you relive the feelings."

Okay, she was good.

"Now. Apart from the fledgling reunion of you two, the thing that seems to be on everyone's mind is the new addition to Avengers Tower."

Steve dropped his eyes to his lap and smiled coyly.

"That's our daughter—Bucky's and mine. She my little girl."

The audience and the people outside literally "awwww'd".

"Congratulations, Captain Rogers!" Lara actually clapped with delight, and the audience followed suit. "Is there anything either of you might like to tell us about her?" She added.

"She's pretty much just like her daddy." Tony said nonchalantly, motioning to Steve.

Steve rolled his eyes as if he was embarrassed...he was such a ham.

"She's a fussy sleeper, she never eats as much as I want her to, I'm starting to think she likes Tony more than me, she's completely impatient...my entire world revolves around her and she's prefect," he rattled off. If there was one thing Steve loved, it was having a venue to gush about Sylvia.

"How about the super-hero work? Any plans on telling her about your day job?"

"I'm still trying to successfully put her down to sleep in one try. I'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Steve laughed.

"What a proud papa! And you Mr. Stark, how are you adjusting to family life?"

"I'm not really a part of the family life, I'm just a fella who pays for stuff. Stevie here does all the heavy lifting."

"No need to be modest, Tony, this picture taken of the three of you is just precious, can we put it up?" Lara motioned to someone in the back of the studio. Whoever she was talking to quickly obliged and there displayed on the big screen in the center of the set was a candid snapshot of them walking down the street. Dear God, they were both in sweatpants and t-shirts, someone had caught Tony Stark in sweatpants on film! It was travesty to say the least. Tony groaned and buried his face in his hands theatrically before peeping up at the picture again. Other than that, actually, it was a pretty cute picture: Steve had Sylvie in one arm and he and Tony were holding hands- Tony using his free hand to gesture dramatically about whatever he was talking about at the time. They both looked really happy and Tony made a mental note to ask if he could get a copy before they leave.

There was more collective cooing and awww-ing. Tony couldn't help but grin proudly as if it really were him and his very own family. He pointed to the photo. "I just can't see how anyone could think that Steve isn't a fit parent. I will never understand that."

The audience cheered at that and a mix of shock, gratitude, and sheer happiness flooded Steve's face. And in Tony's opinion, that look was worth all the slander Tiberius could come up with.

"Well, thank you so much for coming on, gentleman. I for one wish you all the best!"

Clearly, the audience did, too.

That night Steve kissed Tony on the check and told him he was taking Sylvia out to meet Clint, Thor and Bruce at some sports bar to watch a baseball game. Tony got three separate text messages, inviting him on the outing, and Steve had almost begged him to come but Tony hadn't actually gotten any time to himself in a considerable while. An afternoon of vegging out in the workshop, bantering with the bots, and tinkering was just what he needed.

"Alright, but call if you want me home." Steve said with one more long kiss on Tony's lips.

"Oh, I will." Tony replied in a tone that was less than chaste.

Steve got on the elevator and held Sylvia's hand to make her wave goodbye as the doors closed. That man could really be a dork but Tony would be a liar if he said he didn't find it exasperatingly charming.

Tony was at the kitchen counter pouring coffee when the elevator pinged again, not two minutes later.

"Let me guess, you grabbed the wrong pacifier because she likes the pink one during the day and the blue one at night?" The lighthearted teasing look on Tony's face dropped away in a heartbeat when he turned around and saw that it wasn't Steve who'd entered their home.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" Tony bit out.

"Well, it's easy to slip past Captain America when his kid starts screaming for no apparent reason," Tiberius said holding up a small device. Tony recognized it right away as one of those high frequency noise generators that only dogs, babies, and the occasional alien could hear. Even Steve's enhanced hearing probably wouldn't pick it up.

"You really are a cunt of a human being, Tiberius." Tony's glare could cut steel.

Ty shrugged. "I saw that handsome face of yours on TV and just had to stop by."

"Just say whatever it is you have to say and leave."

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Tony. I just think it's cute that you've already deluded yourself so thoroughly into believing that these people are your family. I mean, you really do cling to the smallest ounce of pity that anyone tosses you. You can't honestly think that Steve is going to keep you around much longer. He's a father now, he has to put his child first. And you, Tony, are no good for a child. Well, you're just not really much good, period." Ty paused to let his words sink in for a moment before he continued. "However, if all goes according to plan, Steve will be losing her soon enough, and won't that just destroy him? The baby will end up God knows where but most certainly a place better than here. And our dear Captain...he'll put a gun to his head so he can go straight to Hell and be with that murderer he called a husband. How many lives lost between those two, I wonder..."

"Get out."

"…Because sins are never really forgiven, no one knows that better than you."

"GET OUT!"

"Trust me, I'm not looking for reasons to stay, Tony. I just had to see your face when you got

the call."

Before Tony could respond his phone rang—as if the world really did turn according to Ty's will. The caller ID indicated that it was Clint. Tony was aware of Tiberius staring at him darkly as he answered the call. "Clint?"

"Tony! Steve just got arrested! I need you to-"

Tony didn't catch whatever else Clint said as the phone slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor. Ty gave him a final, poisonously sweet smile before wheeling onto the elevator. "See you in court, sweetheart." Tiberius continued to smile as the doors slid closed.


	21. Chapter 21

"I _told_ you, they pulled us over on the highway for absolutely no reason! They had to have been tailing us!" Clint tried to explain for the tenth time since they'd return.

"Then why did Steve stop the car?" Tony snapped back.

"Because it's Steve, the man would knight a crossing-guard if he could! I know a dirty cop from a mile away and I could smell the crooked on these two. They said Steve was speeding, ran his drivers license and made him get out of the car. Steve wanted to get it all over with before any cameras showed up so he went along with it but when they pulled out the handcuffs he started to ask questions. Then they started throwing phrases at him like "belligerence" and "disorderly conduct" meanwhile me an' Thor are in the backseat starting to get antsy. Bruce tries to to talk to the cops from the passenger seat but Steve just tells us all to stand down! They pushed him up against the car and cuffed him. By now we're trying to get Bruce to not Hulk out on us and then they deck Steve over the head with a baton. Cap didn't hardly flinched of course but that's when I got out of the car yelling and demandin' answers."

"And?"

"They tased me."

"Why didn't you guys get him out of there?!"

"And start up an Avengers vs NYPD shoot out with my Goddaughter in the crossfire?!"

That shut Tony up. There's no way Steve would let that escalate into anything dangerous or anything the media could use against him the night before the trail. There's a reason he made the others stay in the car and let himself be wrongfully arrested and injured.

"After ten minutes of these assholes enjoying and laughing at Steve begging them to let me take Sylvia home with me they only said yes because Nat and I are her Godparents so legally they couldn't bring CPS into it if I was there."

"That would make it the only legal thing they did." Tony fumed.

"Tony, its of my deepest regrets that I allowed this to happen to our Captain. But I do believe that Steven's decision was the best possible one he could have made." Thor stood towering at the other end of the common room.

"Yeah, well Steve's spending the night in jail because Tiberius paid off a couple of fucked up cops to do his bidding." Tony admitted.

"Tiberius? How-" Bruce started.

"He came here, wanted to see my face when I heard Steve got arrested. Then he left. The only way he could have known Steve would be arrested at that very moment he had to have been the one who paid them to do it. This is his style and it has his name all over it."

Clint started at his shoes as he spoke quietly.

"I trust Steve to handle himself in court tomorrow but Godparents or not if he loses Sylvie we all lose her."

The next day Tony was marching up the court steps alongside The Avengers , through the blinding flash of cameras and the roar of reporters he focused only on the doors in front of him. Sylvia was back at home with Pepper, Coulson and Sam Wilson. Entering the courtroom they found seats in the first, showing a unified front that they knew Steve would appreciate. Tiberius and his lawyer took their seats at the prosecutors table, Ty looked as confident as someone who'd already won. Steve and his lawyer Matt Murdock (who had refused to let his friend be dragged through the media mud and not have the best possible legal representation) took their own seats at the defendants table. The judge arrived and all fell silent as they rose and sat as told. Ty's lawyer began his opening statement.

"Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury and of course the American people...I stand before you on the behalf of my client Tiberius Stone who's entire life was shattered irreversibly. Imagine...falling in love, doing everything in your power to bring this person you love into the light after a lifetime of self-destruction, abuse and pain only to be rewarded with a vicious beating from a jealous ex leaving you paralyzed and alone. This horror is the all too real nightmare that has become Tiberius' every waking moment. Mr. Stone is the victim of an atrocious crime of a man we need to be holding to a higher standard. The point of this trail is not to exact revenge on anyone for any reason. Its to bring a criminal to justice for the damage he's done and to do our duty as protectors of those who cannot protect themselves by removing Sylvia Rogers-Barnes from Steve Rogers' custody before a needless, unspeakable tragedy occurs."

"Thank you. You may be seated, prosecutor. The defendant is now allowed to make his opening statement."

"Thank you, your honor." Matt stood up, sure and calm.

"Steve Rogers is not only a man you've all watched put his life on the line for even the least deserving but a man who has always stood for mercy, righteousness and most importantly defending the weak and the helpless."

I guess that puts Tony in the weak and helpless category...or the least deserving category, either way.

"Captain Rogers would never inflict any pain or punishment on any individual unless it was necessary beyond a reasonable doubt."

Tony wondered how much Matt knew about the whole situation as he continued with the opening statement, what Steve had told him about Tony and Ty's relationship, if anything? Did Matt know just how necessary Steve's actions were?

Following opening statements Judge Misner declared a 15 minute recess. Unusual in most other trails but due to this being such a high-profile case (there were cameras inside the courtroom and the reporters were practically vibrating with excitement) they all expected more intermissions than normal. Tony confidently strode to the defendants table were Steve and Matt were thumbing through a stack of papers. Steve's smile when he glanced up to see Tony made him forget where he was for split second.

"You came! I was so nervous you'd choose to stay home...not that I'd be mad or upset or anything I-"

"Take a breath, Steve." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Are you okay? I mean being here with...?" Steve trailed off.

"You kidding? I'm fine!" Liar, liar Armani pants on fire.

"Good."

"Matt, do you mind if I steal Steve to talk alone a minute?"

"Of course not. But for the love of God please don't put your pants back on inside out."

Steve blushed furiously, Tony laughed and Matt smirked. That devilish little Daredevil.

The two left the courtroom and ducked out into an unoccupied conference room, away from nosy camera lenses.

"I didn't see Sylvia anywhere, where is she?" Though well hidden Tony could still hear the urgency in Steve's voice.

"She's with Pepper, Sam and Coulson at the tower. She got pretty fussy without you there last night but she's perfectly alright."

Steve's shoulders loosened and his whole body followed.

"Steve...what does Matt know about Ty and me?"

"Nothing. As far as he knows I really did assault an innocent civilian."

"What?! Are you insane?!"

"The things he did to you, Tony...those aren't my secrets to tell. They don't involve me at all. Legally speaking, Matt has no evidence and "taking someone's word for it" is a pretty terrible defense strategy. You have tell your side of this when you get on the stand today. Its the only way Tiberius will pay for what he did...the only way for me to keep my daughter."

Their fifteen minutes were up and Tony was left with the lives of the man he loves and his reason for living in his hands.


End file.
